


The End of the Beginning

by Viliami27



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Crime Fighting, Cyborg!Yeosang, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fights, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Superhero ATEEZ, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 42,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21996751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viliami27/pseuds/Viliami27
Summary: As local heroes in Seoul, Hongjoong and the boys do their best to protect the city. After stopping a bank robbery, two of the teammates discover something eerie and think nothing of it at first. But as time passes and secrets start to uncover, things are discovered to be not what they seem.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Choi San/Jeong Yunho/Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang/Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa/Song Mingi, Choi Jongho/Kang Yeosang/Song Mingi, Choi Jongho/Song Mingi, Choi San & Jung Wooyoung, Choi San & Kang Yeosang, Choi San/Jeong Yunho/Jung Wooyoung, Kang Yeosang/Park Seonghwa, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 23
Kudos: 48





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic ever so I'd really appreciate feedback and anything you have that could help me improve.
> 
> Also, special thanks to @chirpb who also writes (everyone go check out her page her stuff is super good) She beta'd this story and helped to make it better.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After stopping a bank robbery, two of the teammates discover something eerie and think nothing of it at first. But as time passes and secrets start to uncover, things are discovered to be not what they seem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this is a re-upload.
> 
> This is chirpb, helping my fam out with his first work.
> 
> It was meant to be chaptered, but he wasn't sure how to do it. So here is the fixed thing now!
> 
> Please give this lots of love!!!
> 
> I've read it and it's pretty dang good!

The alarms wailed.

The ear splitting sound had everyone covering their ears. People ran left and right in panic and chaos. The police pulled up right in front of the bank, sirens causing more headache and panic to the area.

“Step out of the building and put your hands up!” A cop yelled through a megaphone. The other cops stood in silence, pointing their firearms at the entrance.

A man stepped out from the building. The cops readied their weapons. The man wore sunglasses, contradicting the very cloudy and rainy weather.

“Hands up now!”

The man stood still, his mouth the only thing moving, slowly forming a sinister smile. He then began to slowly raise his hands.

In what seemed like a millisecond, he radiated green energy that shot out in all directions. The balls of energy all began to form bodies. Before they knew it, the energy balls had created multiple copies of the man.

The cops all had the same look on their face- eyes wide with terror. Without hesitation, all the authorities began to shoot. The copies of the man did flips and tricks, dodging the flying bullets.

They then threw balls of green energy towards the scared cops. Each created another copy.

It became a huge brawl.

Cops used fists and the ends of their weapons. Whatever they could use they did. The copies of the man were extremely fast and also had enhanced strength.

In all the destruction, a small rocket shaped object landed right in the middle. Everyone around it stopped and looked at it.

It beeped and beeped, each time getting faster. Then smoke began to radiate from the object, spreading like wildfire.

Nothing could be seen within two feet, but everyone heard the sound of a jet pack coming closer to the ground. It stopped and then another sound began, like something was being turned on.

The smoke cleared quickly with the sight of two men standing in the center being visible to everyone. They looked at everyone in confusion.

One wore a helmet, with a t-shaped tinted visor on the front. His face could not be seen at all. He wore armour that matched the helmet. Around his waist was a belt that had many gadgets on it.

The other wore a long black leather coat and black spray painted armour under it. In his hand was a long katana. He also sported a pair of sunglasses.

“Joong did something wrong, the smoke didn’t even stay up for a minute. Everyone can see us,” The man with the coat yelled. The other just nodded.

The officers and copies all stared in confusion.

The one with the coat stepped forward.”Alright since I have your attention, my name is Sa- Reaper. I’m sure you’ve heard of me before?” Everyone was silent.”Aww, they’re shy. It’s okay guys, I can sign babies after. Anyways, this is my buddy Yeo- I mean Cyber. He doesn’t really talk that much.”

San looked at Yeosang with a smile. Yeosang, gave an animated charade of embarrassment. The two stood awkwardly in the center.

“Well, I’m guessing you’re our ‘Villain’. Wait, I just noticed that all these guys look the exact same what is going on!” Yeosang stepped in front of San in frustration and began to shoot the copies with his hand blaster.

The copies all started to run towards the two heroes. San backed up and readied his sword. The steel weapon started to glow purple. He started slicing copies, each turning back into green energy.

Yeosang looked at the original who noticed. He panicked and ran back towards the door.

Yeosang started his jet pack and flew towards the culprit. San looked in disbelief.

“Hello! I can’t fight them by myself,” San cried, stabbing a copy.

Yeosang landed in front of the original and punched his stomach.

The man squealed in pain. With one swift blow, Yeosang knocked him straight to the floor.

All the copies flinched and reverted back to green energy.

San ran towards Yeosang. He placed his sword on the originals chest.

“What are you doing here? Why are you robbing a bank? Are you here alone? What’s going on?!” Yeosang punched Sans arm causing him to stop interrogating.

Yeosang leaned down and grabbed the guy by his shirt.

With fear written all over his face, the original watched him hold the blaster up to his neck.”He’s in there! My partner Seungyoon is getting the money!” He cried and pleaded for mercy.

“What’s his power?” Yeosang asked, surprising everyone. San looked in disbelief. He’s heard his voice before but he spoke very rarely. The helmet he wore made his voice sound muffled as though he were talking through a telephone. His voice was really deep and soothing.

The original looked and hesitantly answered,”It’s uh- it’s a weird lazer thing. It’s blue but it’s like super hot and can burn through the toughest metal.” Yeosang stood up and motioned to the cops to retrieve the man.

Before he left, he attached a power restricting collar around his neck.

“That was so unlike you. That goes against everything we believe. It’s good he talked because I was afraid you were gonna shoot him. Are you listening, Yeosang?!”

Yeosang grabbed his blaster and pointed to the energy capsule. It was empty, making the blaster useless. He then put it back in.

San chuckled and punched his arm.

“You totally got me! But seriously warn me next time,” he said to Yeosang.

They reached the money vault and saw the crook loading bags.

“It’s 2019. You could literally just hack a bunch a bank accounts or something. Why go through all this just to go straight to prison?” San asked sarcastically.

The thief jumped, startled, and immediately held his hands out. They glowed a bright blue.

Before he could shoot anything, Yeosang shot a dart type bullet out of his arm blaster, causing the crook to fall to his knees.

The power restricting collar was put on the crook and he was dragged out by cops. One officer stopped next to the heroes and held his hand out.

“Thanks a lot! That could’ve been bad out there. No cops were injured. Everyone gets to go home tonight,” the cop awkwardly said, not making eye contact.

“Anytime sir! Glad we could be of assistance,” San said, aggressively grabbing the officers hand.

The officer gave a weird look to San then just walked away.

San just shrugged and turned to Yeosang. “Another day, another crime stopped. We weren’t even injured. That deserves a celebration.” Yeosang nodded.

“We should probably get back to Hongjoong, let him know that his smoke bomb was defective,” informed Yeosang.

San looked at Yeosang.”You know you’re talking a lot more lately. It makes me happy.”

Yeosang sighed deeply.

Suddenly, San could hear a noise. Like a hammer to an anvil. A clinking.

San dropped his sword. He walked forward as if he were a zombie. Yeosang grabbed his arm but he acted as if he wasn’t there. Yeosang panicked and grabbed his sword.

He followed San down a few halls and into the stairway to the basement. He walked towards an old vault looking door. San opened it and stepped in.

He walked to the middle of the room and stopped. He shook his head like he were waking up, “What happened?”

Yeosang handed him his sword, “You tell me. You’re the one who went all zombie on me. You have no idea what you were doing?”

San analyzed the room.”All I remember was hearing a noise. It sounded like a blacksmith or something. Then I remember everything went purple and it was like a trail here.”

San looked around more. It looked like a room for storage. Nothing seemed interesting in the least bit.

Then the noise was back, only louder. It was as if it was happening right in front of him. The sound caused his head to pound. He let out a wince at the stabbing sound.

Yeosang ran to his side to find out what was wrong.”What’s wrong? Are you okay? What’s going on?!” San had his hands over his ears.

He looked up to see something that was so terrifying that it made the sound stop.

Behind some boxes he saw a hand. It laid there, as still as a rock.

He moved the boxes, heart pounding. What he saw made him cover his mouth to stop from throwing up.

A dead body.

Yeosang bent down on one knee to get a closer look and analyze the body.

There was no blood.

No strangle marks.

No signs of struggle.

The body was pale and bony. He looked almost sick. Yeosang thought the guy must’ve been dead here for a while, because it almost looked like it was decaying.

“How long has he been here?” asked San.

Yeosang analyzed the body some more, "Well it...I mean...He looks as if he’s decaying so he must’ve been here a while.”

Yeosang looked at San. San doesn’t really have the stomach for this stuff, which is ironic considering his power is that of the Grim Reaper.

San has what is called an Aura Spirit. A spirit of energy that chooses a host body and gives he/she abilities and such. It’s either an animal or creature/being of some kind. San’s is a Grim Reaper. He is able to shoot energy, which all can do, and can also amplify it to make a giant Grim Reaper which he controls. There are other abilities but those are his big hitters.

What San just did has never happened before. It confused them both but they couldn’t think about it over the thought of the dead body.

Yeosang stood up and brushed himself off.

“I’m gonna scan and get some DNA to find out who this is? Then we’ll know how long he’s been here. I’ll also be able to start my investigation.”

San looked at the body.

“Are we just gonna leave him?” San was scarred.

Yeosang turned San away from the body, "I’ve already alerted the authorities. The ambulance is on their way. We should get out of here,” Yeosang instructed.

They left and returned to base.

Hongjoong was doing what he usually does- his weird sciency stuff.

He heard the slide door open and looked to see San and Yeosang walk in.

“Hey how was the mission? I’m hoping there weren’t any fatalities,” Hongjoong crossed his fingers.

“It was fine. No fatalities. Your smoke bomb was defective though,” stated Yeosang cynically.

Hongjoong took a deep sigh, "I had a feeling I put too little of something. Sorry I’ll get that fixed.”

He glanced at San and noticed how upset he was.

“Hey, what’s up San? You seem a bit...distracted.”

San just stood there silently.

“I should probably tell you what we found after the mission. Well something weird happened to San. He went zombie on me and walked into the basement of the bank. Thing is he couldn’t remember what happened and why. The point is we found a dead body,” Yeosang explained.

Joong sat there with a shocked look on his face.

There was nothing but awkward silence for what felt like forever.

The quiet was broken by the sliding door.

In walked Mingi. Alongside him was Wooyoung and Jongho.

“HEY WHAT’S UP TEAM! How did the mission go? Good I hope. I mean I’m guessing it was fine because you guys don’t have a scratch. That’s saying something because it was only you two. That’s pretty crazy that it only took two of us to stop a crime. These days it seems like it takes the whole team. Well now that-” Wooyiung cut Mingi off by jabbing his elbow into the older's side.

“I think we just walked in on something serious," he said, looking to Joong for an answer.

Jongho looked at Mingi and rolled his eyes.

Yeosang continued as if none of that just happened, "I took some DNA samples and did a few scans. I’m gonna do a few tests and investigate.”

“Good idea,” Joong agreed, nodding.

“In the meantime, I think you should get some rest San. That’s pretty traumatic and I think anyone would agree,” instructed Joong.

San nodded and walked to his room.

Mingi, Wooyoung and Jongho all stood there in confusion. Joong looked at them and sighed.

“I’ll let you know later.”

They all shrugged and walked away.

\---------------

It was 3 in the morning.

Yeosang sat at the desk and was typing on the giant keyboard. There were several screens on the wall and one giant screen.

It showed a loading bar at 57%.

He sat patiently, waiting for it to load.

Out of the night, Seonghwa entered the room in his pajamas, He squinted his eyes trying to see who was up at this hour.

“Yeo- Yeosang? Is that you?”

Yeosang turned and stood up.

“Why are you awake? It’s 3 in the morning,” scolded Seonghwa.

Seonghwa glanced over at the screen, "Are you seriously doing work right now. You need to rest and charge up. Your human side may be able to stay up all night but if you want to protect yourself or be of any assistance to us, you need to charge your cybernetics.”

Seonghwa is basically the mom of the team. Always making sure everyone was fed and clothed and rested.

“I need to find out what happened,” explained Yeosang.

“The body?” Seonhwa questioned.

Yeosang gave a confused look.

Seonghwa grinned, "Hongjoong told me. We’re a team, Sangie. If we’re gonna be a good one, we can’t keep secrets from each other. Especially something about dead body. Why would you keep that from us? Why would that be a secret?”

Yeosang shrugged, "I don’t know. I just didn’t want to worry the team about something that could be nothing.”

Seonghwa looked down in frustration, "Well, even if it is nothing, we’ll find out together.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a beeping noise.

The scan was finished.

Information about a Choi Donghae popped up.

His birthday, age, sex, everything.

“He’s 32 years old…. Has a wife and two kids…. Pretty basic information,” Yeosang read.

“What’s that?” Seonghwa pointed to the smaller screen on the left. Yeosang used his hand on the touch screen to drag it to the big screen.

It was a news report. Reported November 2nd 2019.

Yeosangs eyes widened.

“Oh my-” he had confusion plastered all over his face.

Seonghwa looked confused as well but for a different reason.

“What’s wrong?” Yeosang didn’t take his eyes off the screen.

“I- this doesn’t make any sense. How could he-”

“Spit it out!” Seonghwa cut him off, trying to get Yeosang to make sense.

“It was reported that this man went missing on November 2nd. He was with his wife in the afternoon then went out for something and hasn’t come back.”

“So,” Seonghwa protested in confusion.

“So ... his body was almost completely decayed as if he had been there for weeks or even months and- and November 2nd was yesterday.”

They both had flashes of terror. Confusion and mayhem consumed their brains.

Yeosang fell back in his seat.

Seonghwa put his hands through his hair.

“So much for nothing to worry about huh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love us some feedback!


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start to uncover when they investigate their findings in Part one. Nothing is adding up but the information is given, secrets are told, and the fog starts clearing. That's when they really get into something that's a lot more than what they thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd again like to thank @chirpb for helping out. She's probably gonna be helping a lot until I really figure out how to do this lol. Stay tuned for more of The End of the Beginning.
> 
> And please give me feedback I'm still really new to this and would really appreciate it.

Things were finally starting to go back to normal.

San was cracking jokes again. After finding the body, San didn’t really talk for about a week. All he could think about was that man and the life he lived. He had a family and a job. He was a person.

Yeosang didn’t inform San about what him and Seonghwa discovered. He didn’t know if he was ready yet.

Yeosang being a cyborg made it easier for him to hide his feelings. He could feel emotionally through his human side but his robotic side allowed him to completely disregard them at all. That’s how he was able to stomach the dead body.

Hongjoong and Seonghwa, the leaders (really only Hongjoong but Seonghwa guides Joong and helps him make decisions) were trying to figure out what was going on. None of this made sense.

The rest of the team just lived their lives like normal. They weren’t told the complete story but they knew enough.

As the team lived their lives, Yeosang was still in the research lab. He sat at the big computer going through reports, files, etc.

Hongjoong wanted him to take a break but he didn’t listen.

Yeosang, reading old files, came across their files:

(All categories of powers (i.e telepaths, speedsters, brutes or superhuman strength etc.) are given levels to show how dangerous they are or in a heroes case just to show how powerful they are.)

Kim Hongjoong: He is a level 9 in energy manipulation. Uses energy to create force fields and shoot bolts. He also created an ultimate survival suit that gives him speed strength and stamina but not at a superhuman level. It’s just above the average human. His suit is also resistant to things like fire, water, etc. Alias: Shield X.

Park Seonghwa: A level 8 telepath. He is a telepath and telekinetic. He has also had a few run ins with empathy but nothing too big. Alias: Intell.

Song Mingi: He is a level 10 in Element control. He is also a level 4 in Pyrokinetics. Has the ability to control fire. It’s not just any fire though. The fire he holds is sun fire. He’s capable of scorching, burning any object with complete ease. Normal fire takes time to burn things but not Sun fire. Alias: Scorch.

Choi San: Has an Aura Spirit (Grim Reaper). His power/spirit allows him to shoot energy blasts (all with an Aura Spirit can do so), conduct spirit amplification, and other abilities still being tested. He is trained in combat and with a Katana. Alias: Reaper.

Jung Wooyoung: Like San, also has an Aura spirit. His spirit is a Wolf. Some Aura Spirits can create a minion or replicas of their spirit. Wooyoung can create wolf spirits that he commands. He also has enhanced senses, strength and speed/stamina. Alias: Alpha.

Kang Yeosang: A level 10 in cybernetics. Half human, half machine-otherwise known as a Cyborg. A level 10 in intelligence. Has access to an array of weaponry and other tech provided by his cybernetics. Alias: Cyber.

Jeong Yunho: A level 10 speedster. He can run faster than sound but his speed is still being tested. He’s also able to generate high pitch sounds and has even created light energy and electricity. Alias: Twilight.

Choi Jongho: A level 9 brute/someone with superhuman strength. He isn’t bulletproof in his normal skin but has the power to get a metal skin. That power with his strength make him a level 10 overall. Alias: Platinum.

Yeosang chuckled at the analysis. It had been made created a long time ago so it was a little outdated. Their powers had grown so much since then.

After dwelling on the past, he found himself reverting back to Donghae’s case. The crime was very unusual and he didn’t know where to go from there.

“Where exactly do we go from here?” Yeosang’s train of thought was broken by the one and only Jeong Yunho. He stood there, leaned against a table, playing with a pen.

Yeosang looked at him and turned back to the computer.

“Well I have a plan laid out,” answered Yeosang.

Yunho chuckled, ”You know your human side has really been kicking in lately because that was such a bad lie. You don’t have a plan do you?”

Yeosang’s eyes widened behind his helmet. How did he know? Was my “human side” really coming through?

Yeosang turned to Yunho in frustration, “Do you want something Yunho? I don’t have time for this.”

Yunho looked down and shook his head, “That’s the problem. We’re a team Sangie. A team! We’re supposed to do this together. There is something going on with this and we all know it. You, however, can’t go into this alone. You need back up, because this could be seriously dangerous.”

There was a pause.

They both took a deep breath.

“You’re right. We are a team. I’ll let you know if there’s anything, I promise. I just want so badly for this to be nothing. We’ve dealt with challenging things before but something about this seems way worse. I don’t know what though,” vented Yeosang.

Yunho stood up straight and brushed himself off.

“We got this,” said Yunho optimistically.

“I’m gonna have to tell San about this though. He’s not a child; he signed up for this job. He may not take lightly. I don’t think any of us do, not even you. You just hide it well. My point is that he's on our team too,” Yunho explained.

Yeosang just nodded.

Yunho sped out of the room.

\-------------

San sat next to the giant willow tree standing right outside their base.

Their base was located in a forest area right outside Seoul.

He played with the grass, ripping it out of the ground and throwing it into a pile. He then used a tiny amount of energy to make the pile fly away.

Out of nowhere, Yunho sped and stopped right in front of San.

San did a tiny jump and acted like nothing happened.

Yunho smiled and sat down right next to him, ”So how’s it going?”

San looked at Yunho with a smile and then looked back at the ground, “It’s going… I’m feeling better today. What’s up?”

“Well I just wanted to talk to you about something. About that thing,” Yunho said insistently.

San gave a smirk then sighed, “What about it?”

Yunho did his best to explain the situation.

San just nodded the whole time, trying his best to be strong. It’s understandable to be upset about this type of thing even if you didn’t know the person but San wondered why he took it way harder than everyone else. He thought that there was something wrong with him given that his power is literally that of a Grim Reaper.

San asked to see the case files and reports. Him and Yunho went to the research lab and talked to Yeosang.

Yeosang pulled up the files.

“Sorry for hiding this from you. After all of that happened I didn’t know how you’d handle this,” Yeosang said, guilt lacing his voice. San thought that he was being sincere since the cyborg never let his emotion into his voice.

“It’s alright, Sangie. I need to be stronger. I’ll be fine,” San replied with a smile.

They both nodded and continued to analyze the data.

They couldn’t find anything that remotely stood out as a lead. Everything seemed to just lead to a dead end.

“Have you talked to his wife? Maybe she knew something,” advised Yunho.

Yeosang nodded, ”We need to give her time but we will pay her a visit. Let’s just give her time to mourn for a little.”

They all sighed and leaned back in frustration. Besides talking to his wife, they really had no leads.

San read the information one more time then noticed something that made him freeze. His skin had goosebumps, but not the good kind. The hairs on his neck stood straight up. He became pale.

Yeosang noticed his face, ”What’s wrong? Is this too much for you? You can leave if you need to.”

San shook his head, ”It’s not that. Look at where he worked.”

They all zeroed in on the section that told us where he worked. On a dotted line it showed he worked at Metal Manufacturing Company called TinHead.

Yeosang looked and saw the name. ”I already looked up info about his job. Nothing suspicious. I even checked all the background checks for all the employees past and present. I don’t think there’s anything there,” Yeosang insisted.

“Well you should check again,” San said, his face still pale.

“Why,” Yeosang and Yunho said in unison.

“Because when I found his body… all I heard was the sound of metal being hit. Like a blacksmith.”

Silence fell over the room.

\-------------

Yeosang, San, Wooyoung, and Yunho decided to visit the metal company. They had no idea what to expect but after San’s news, it had to be something.

They walked into a giant garage/warehouse type building. Workers walked around frantically as sparks flew from all the welding.

One man noticed the visitors and walked over to them. He was bigger and had grease all over himself.

The boys all bowed and smiled at the man.

“What brings you here?”

Yeosang stepped forward. “Hello sir, we have urgent business and need to speak to whoever’s in charge.”

The man eyed them and gave a soft growl. He turned around and pointed to a set of stairs that led to a room that had a large window that looked over all the workers.

“Up there,” the man said.

He walked back to some guys and began to work again.

The boys all looked at each other in confusion and then walked to the room. All the workers they passed gave them disgusted looks. Something seemed off, but the boys couldn’t tell what.

They reached the room and knocked as loud as they could without seeming threatening.

A man in a similar jumpsuit to the workers greeted them at the door. He was a bit cleaner than the rest and a lot skinnier.

“Oh! Visitors! Welcome!” He smiled and jumped as if he was on his tenth cup of coffee.

The boys hesitantly smiled back and walked in.

Wooyoung looked at his desk and noticed a cup of coffee. In the trash can were several more cups of coffee.

“Well that makes sense,” Wooyoung said under his breath.

The man sat in his seat and motioned for them to sit on his office couch.

Following his invitation, they sat on the couch and got comfortable.

“So what can I do for you? Looking for a sponsor? I heard that heroes do that with their companies and special events,” the man said, going as fast as a kid on a sugar high.

“No sir we just came to ask a few questions if that’s alright with you,” said San.

As if he wasn’t smiling big before, it seemed like he was smiling even bigger.

“Oh great I love answering questions! When I was in Primary school…” The boys tuned out his story with deep thought.

He finally finished and Yeosang stood up.

“So, do you know a man named Choi Donghae?”

The man turned his head with a confused look on his face. He sat there for a minute in silence then jumped.

“OH! Of course I know Donghae! How is he doing? Good I hope,” he yelled.

“Well, I mean- he’s dead,” Yeosang said, trying as hard as he could to be sensitive. It didn’t work obviously.

The man got a saddened look on his face.

“That’s too bad. He was a good guy.”

He sat there for a minute then jumped again with what seemed like an even bigger smile.

“I’m sure he’s in a better place. Cookie?” He held out a jar of cookies.

Yunho jumped up. “I want one!”

He grabbed a handful and sat back down next to Wooyoung. Wooyoung looked in disgust and rolled his eyes.

“Really? We have cookies at home,” Wooyoung said in frustration.

Yunho ignored his comment and munched down on the sweet, crunchy treats.

Yeosang looked back at the man who was still smiling.

“Was he okay while he was working here? Like did he seem weird in any way? Something seems off about his death and we’re just trying to figure out what that is,” Yeosang questioned.

“No he was great. He did quit a month ago, but he didn’t give a reason why,” the man stated, grabbing his coffee right after.

“Is there someone we could talk to that worked in the West building a few blocks from here? It said he worked in the “West crew” or whatever that means. We went there earlier but it looked closed,” asked Yeosang.

The man’s face went pale. His smile was still there but it was almost creepy. The boys could tell something changed with him.

The man flinched a bit, eye twitching while he popped his neck.

“I don’t know what your talking about. The West building has been closed for a few years now I don’t know why anyone would say that,” the man said, inhaling deeply.

Yeosang scanned his vitals. He was nervous.

“Sir, are you hiding something from us? Why are you getting nervous?”

The man’s smile went away. A mix of terror and anger flashed across his face.

“Why are you guys here? I’m not comfortable with you guys being here anymore. Please leave,” the man commanded.

“We need to find out what happened to Donghae. We can’t leave till you tell us everything you know,” San demanded.

“I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING! If you guys are here because of the accidents in the West building then I can’t help you!”

They all looked at the man in confusion.

“Accidents? Sir we’re here for Donghae. Whatever happened that caused the West building to close down has nothing to do with why we’re here, unless it has something to do with Donghae,” assured Wooyoung.

The man went back to normal.

“Oh- I’m sorry it’s just that a few years back we had some accidents that caused a lot of tragedy. I just don’t like talking about the West building. Donghae did work there but He moved over here after all the accidents. Some of the ones who died were his friends. Other than that, the accidents had nothing to do with him,” he explained.

The boys all sighed deeply as if they got away with something.

“I apologize for my outburst. That’s a very touchy topic for me. I hope you understand,” the man said, smiling again as if nothing happened.

“Sorry to upset you sir,” San said.

Yunho sat back, slowly munching on his cookies. He watched as if it were a dramatic part in a Kdrama.

“So you know nothing of Donghae?” Yeosang asked again.

“I’m afraid not. He was a good man and this news is quite saddening,” answered the man.

“Sorry to disturb you sir. What was your name by the way?” San asked, standing up.

“Oh where are my manners? It’s Jung Hyunsik,” the man replied.

”Uh- right. Well, thank you for your time. We’ll get out of your hair,” San said grabbing the door knob.

“Come back anytime! And let me know if you guys still want that sponsorship!”

They exited the room and went down the stairs.

“That was so weird. He kinda creeped me out,” Wooyoung said looking back at the door.

The workers all still watched them.

Everything about this place felt off and weird but the team couldn’t quite tell what it was.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Yeosang instructed.

They exited the building and headed towards the street.

Suddenly, they heard a quiet sound from behind a dumpster.

“Psssst”

Yunho glared at the dumpster.

They walked behind it to find a boy. He was small and skinny. Really skinny. He wore the same jumpsuit as the workers.

“You alright kid? Do you need help?” Yeosang scanned him.

“I’m fine but you must know something,” said the boy, looking around as if someone was watching.

“I heard you guys were talking about Donghae,” he continued.

“Yes. Do you know anything?” Wooyoung leaned in towards the boy.

“Well I listened to your conversation with Hyunsik. The West building is closed but I heard some workers still go there. I don’t think it’s for work though, at least not for the same work here,” the boy said, looking around again.

“Why would workers go there if it’s shut down? Does the equipment there still work?” San waited for an answer.

“No. The building shouldn’t even have power. But I went there once and I did see light inside the building,” the boy answered.

“What’s in it for you kid? Why are you telling us this,” said Yunho, still glaring.

“My dad went there with some workers one time and I haven’t seen him since,” the boy said.

“How long ago was that?” San looked worried for the kid.

“Two weeks ago,” he answered.

The boys all sighed and looked at each other.

“Why are you here? You seem too young to have a job,” Yeosang said cynically.

“I just come here with my dad. I’ve been coming back here everyday since to see if he would come back but he hasn’t. Please find my dad,” the boy pleaded.

“We’ll find him. You need to stay away from here though. I don’t think this place is what is seems,” said San.

The boy nodded and scurried away. He went through a hole in the fence and disappeared into an alley.

The team looked at each other with concern.

“Let’s inform the rest about this. There’s definitely something going on here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!!
> 
> Love feedback!


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After analyzing their findings, the team must come up with a plan on how to stop this. But things get out of hand when members are faced with challenges- some physical threats and some mental.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to @chirpb for the help!

“Is everyone here?”

Hongjoong scanned the meeting room and everyone's assigned seats.

“Where is Yunho? He’s always late to the meetings which makes zero sense because he has superhuman speed,” Hongjoong exclaimed.

The team just shrugged.

In a span of two seconds, Yunho was in his seat like he was there the whole time. Everyone looked at him and glared.

Yunho slouched in his seat like nothing happened.

“We know you just got here. We were waiting for you, doofus,” Jongho raged.

“Sorry. You just called this meeting like two minutes ago,” Yunho said defensively.

“It’s been fifteen minutes,” Yeosang said, tapping his helmet and checking the time.

Hongjoong dismissed his tardiness and turned to the big screen on the wall in front of their table.

“Alright, I’m sure some of you have heard parts of this story but we need to be fully informed if we’re gonna be able to actually get anywhere with this case,” Hongjoong said, touching the screen and moving things around.

He explained the story in full: San finding Donghae’s body and not knowing how; Yeosang and Seonghwa discovering that he had only died a day or maybe even an hour or two before they found him, which wouldn't make sense because his body was completely decayed; then the boss being super bipolar and freaking out about the “West Building”; and finally, the boy telling them that something was suspicious with the metal industry and that the “West Building” had something sketchy going on with his father being gone for over two weeks.

The team sat in silence.

For the most part, they were all really confused, but there was a small part that no one was willing to admit.

Everyone was a little scared. Nobody could explain why but this whole situation sent chills down everyone’s backs and not the good kind.

They spent almost an hour discussing what the next step was and how to approach it.

Yeosang and Seonghwa agreed that a standard scope mission was to take place before they decided on anything drastic. They proposed that a few members go and get as much information as they could without any conflict then go from there.

San and Wooyoung (of course) thought that they should go through with an undercover op. They insisted that they have some members go undercover and see what was going on from the inside.

Jongho, Mingi and Yunho all agreed that they should storm the Building and take no prisoners. You can imagine how Hongjoong reacted to that statement.

But they believed that the best option would be to storm in and see what was going on for themselves, without having to hide.

Hongjoong sat in silence, contemplating what would work the best.

While they waited for an answer, they argued some more.

“Listen, the best option would be to storm the place and get the information by whoever is in there. They probably wouldn’t even respond to interrogation in the first place,” Jongho said aggressively.

Mingi and Yunho nodded in agreement.

Seonghwa shook his head.

“That won’t work. That’ll just cause a huge disruption and could get people hurt. Plus it’ll make it so that anyone else apart of this who aren’t present will know they’re being found out and they can get away.”

Yeosang nodded in agreement.

“We need to keep distance and study from afar,” Yeosang added.

“No we should do an undercover operation and get information from within,” San stated.

Mingi scoffed.

“That wouldn’t work we don’t even know what goes on in there. It could be anyone we have no idea who we would cover up as,” said Mingi.

“That’s why we act like drug dealers or something and play it off like they said the drug deal was meant to happen at that place,” Wooyoung added.

“No that’s an awful idea,” said Yunho cynically.

San clenched his fists.

It got progressively heated till finally Hongjoong stood up and stopped them all.

“That’s enough.”

He looked at the screen with all the data.

After a long moment of silence, Hongjoong cleared his throat.

“We should think about this a little more. Let’s sleep on it and regroup tomorrow.”

The members didn’t like that answer, but Hongjoong is the leader and they all listened to him. He doesn’t have a total rule but in situations like these, but it’s best he does.

The members all stood up and left the room. Everyone went to their bedrooms.

The rest of the day, everyone did their own things.

While Hongjoong looked over the case more, Seonghwa cleaned up the base. Yeosang helped Joong out a bit then decided to train.

San, Wooyoung, and Yunho (who wanted to tag along) left to see a horror movie.

Mingi took a nap.

And Jongho also took a nap.

The team needed a tiny break from hero work, as they occasionally did.

But superhero work always seems to find a way into their plans.

\----------------

It was getting late.

Mingi woke up from his nap and went into the kitchen area to look for some food.

After eating leftover dinner, he headed back to his room.

He heard a bunch of rustling in Jonghos room.

“What’s that about?” He thought to himself.

Mingi walked into his room to find Jongho putting on his super suit.

His suit was an all-black outfit. He had a sleeveless top, black chest plate, and black cargo pants with combat boots. His outfit was the most minimal because he was able to turn into metal so armor was really unneeded.

His eyes widened.

“What are you doing?”

Jongho looked at Mingi then turned back around.

“I’m gonna go see what’s going on myself,” Jongho replied.

Mingi’s eyes widened even more.

“Stop that! You can’t be hot-headed like this. We’re a team we have to work together. Hongjoong said we’ll make a plan tomorrow,” Mingi exclaimed.

Jongho turned to Mingi.

“Then what? We’re gonna wait another day to go through with that plan? We can’t wait for a plan sometimes, we have to just go out and do it. While we’re taking all this time to plan they could be killing innocent people as we speak,” yelled Jongho.

Mingi looked down.

“You’re right. But Hongjoong is the leader. We listen to him,” he tacked on to his argument.

“I know. And I’ll take whatever punishment I have too, but I’ve been sitting on the sidelines all this time while everyone else has been trying to solve this case. It’s my turn to go out,” said Jongo, putting his mask on.

Mingi looked at Jongho.

“Well, I have too. So I’m going with you.”

Jongho looked surprised then quickly went back to being determined.

“Get ready quick. We leave in five,” commanded Jongho.

Mingi went to his room and went through with his dressing operation.

Mingi’s outfit was a dark red suit. It had a lighter red chest plate with matching shin guards, and shoulder pads. He also wore arm bracelets that helped him to control his power. On his face he wore a pair of red lens sunglasses.

He finished getting ready and walked to the back entrance. They snuck out and were about to leave.

Before they could take off, a voice made them jump.

“Where are you guys going?”

The two jumped and turned to see a stealthy Yeosang standing there, staring at them intently.

They couldn’t see his eyes because of the helmet he wore 24/7 but they could just tell.

The two were silent till Jongho finally spoke up, fixing his posture with a sense of determination.

“We’re going to see what’s in the West building,”

Yeosang was quiet.

Mingi looked around awkwardly and began to whistle.

“Okay. I’m coming with,” Yeosang said, turning on his gear.

Jongho and Mingi looked at Yeosang in confusion

“What?” The boys questioned in unison.

“I’m coming with. But we’re gonna do things my way. We’ll scope and if we see anything dangerous we’ll step in, but if there is nothing dangerous then we take what we see and report back. Understood?” Yeosang instructed.

Jongho stepped forward to protest but quickly stopped himself.

He clenched his fists in frustration.

“Fine. But don’t expect me to hold back if I see anything even remotely suspicious,” stated Jongho.

Yeosang nodded then turned on his jet pack.

The three took off to the West building with no knowledge of what they will find.

\-------------

“Please don’t hurt me! Ahhhhhhhhh ...” the girl in the movie screamed.

Yunho held onto Wooyoung’s arm.

Wooyoung and San looked at him in annoyance.

“Do you have to do that? The movie isn’t even that scary,” snapped Wooyoung.

A woman in the theater shushed him.

San, in defiance, turned and snapped at the lady.

“You shush.”

The lady looked at him with disgust and continued watching the movie.

San turned and noticed a dad talking to his son. The son complained that they were out of popcorn and the dad assured him he would get more. The man stood with the popcorn bowl and exited the theater.

‘What a nice father’ San thought to himself.

His train of thought was broken by another scream from the girl on the screen.

The movie was an hour in, pretty much past the climax and now at the point where the protagonist is trying to stop the antagonist.

The killer came walked into the woman’s house and tried to murder her.

Before they could see if he was successful, the screen went black.

For a second, everyone thought that was a part of the movie, but everyone realized something was up when the lights began to flicker.

“What’s going on?” A man stood up in protest.

People followed his actions, all thinking aloud and complaining.

Finally, Yunho stood up and looked at the boys.

“I’ll go ask what the problem is. I need to see if Katrina lives or not,” Yunho said, walking down the steps.

Wooyoung and San chuckled then stood up to calm the people down.

Yunho walked out of the theater doors and looked around the building. It was empty. Not one person was seen.

The lights flickered everywhere.

Yunho looked around in confusion and called out for help.

“Hello? Does anyone work here or did you guys ditch or something,” Yunho said sarcastically.

Nobody answered.

He saw a popcorn booth and noticed a bowl of popcorn spilled on the ground.

“That’s weird,” he said looking around then getting a closer look.

He analyzed the popcorn then heard a slight wince.

“H- Help m-m me.”

He slightly jumped at the voice then stood up and looked around. He looked on the employee side of the booth and saw a worker on the ground, not moving.

His eyes were wide opened but he laid on his stomach and didn’t move a muscle.

“Are you okay sir?” Yunho jumped over the table and turned him over.

“Why aren’t you moving what’s wrong?”

“I-I I can’t.” Yunho then heard footsteps.

He jumped back over the table and saw a man. He wore a sort of cowboy looking suit. A hat, a bulletproof vest, a sash with bullets around his chest, and a pair of fashionable boots.

Over the mysterious man’s shoulder was a body.

Yunho was unsure if the body was dead or alive.

“What are you doing with that-” Yunho checked to see the gender of the body, “-Man?”

The guy chuckled.

“Now, is that any of your business, son? I suggest you go back into your theater and wait for your movie to turn back on. I think that’d be in your best interest,” the man warned.

Yunho glared at him.

“Normally I would, but I’m gonna assume you’re not being a good citizen and taking that man to the hospital. By the way you’re dressed, it looks like your taking him to a rodeo,” said Yunho sarcastically.

The man sighed deeply.

“You just had to be a hero didn’t you,” the man said, placing the body on the ground.

The man reached for his gun but then a voice stopped him.

“Wait a minute. Honey, I think he’s one of them.”

A woman walked out of the women’s bathroom. She wore a similar outfit but it was black instead of brown and had other defining features.

She pulled out a phone looking device and showed it to the man.

The man smirked.

“Well, Well, Well. Two in one spot. This is something to celebrate, indeed,” the man cheered.

Yunho looked at the couple in confusion.

“I’m sorry to intrude but um- what are you guys talking about?”

“How much?” They ignored Yunho’s comment.

“About 18 Million,” the girl answered.

“Wowza! Well, I’ll be a Monkey’s uncle. Dead or alive?”

The girl smiled.

“Dead.”

They both laughed.

“Just the way I like it,” the man said.

Yunho looked at them with confusion.

A flash of fear hit Yunho. What were they talking about? What did they mean by he’s one of them? Do they want him dead? So many questions flooded Yunho’s mind.

The man pulled a shotgun from off his back and pointed it at Yunho.

He took his shot but in the blink of an eye, Yunho dodged it.

The couple looked in confusion. The man looked over to the girl.

“What’s it’s enhancement?”

The woman glared at Yunho.

“Speed.”

The man chuckled.

“Looks like we’ve got a little bugger on our hands. No matter. I’ve dealt with this before and I’ll do it again,” the man insinuated.

He began rapid firing. Each bullet missed Yunho by a long shot.

The man visibly got frustrated and was shooting faster and faster. He put his shotgun back on his back and pulled out two pistols.

In the theater, San and Wooyoung heard the gunfire.

The people got scared and started panicking. They all began to run towards the door.

“Woo, we need to stop them. They’re heading right towards the conflict,” San exclaimed.

They looked around and saw an emergency exit.

“Everyone stop! Go out of the emergency exit!”

The people surprisingly listened and ran towards the lit-up exit sign.

San noticed the kid whose father left to get popcorn. His father still hadn't returned. The kid cried for his parent.

San noticed a family and asked the parents to watch him for a little. "It's okay kid, I'll find your dad. You stay with them till I do, okay?"

The kid followed orders and left with a nice family.

“We need to see what’s going on out there,” commanded San.

They pressed a button on their watches, calling for backup.

\--------------

They crept on the roof, being as quiet as possible.

Yeosang scanned the area and noticed an open window to the second floor.

“There,” he pointed.

Mingi and Jongho followed, each successfully getting through the window quietly.

Yeosang scanned the area once more, not finding anything abnormal.

He went towards the railing and looked down on the first floor.

Still nothing.

“Do you see anything?” Jongho looked around.

“There’s nothing,” Yeosang stated.

“Are you serious? Nothing?” Jongho clenched his fists.

Mingi touched Jongho’s shoulder.

“It’s fine. That kid was probably just a scam or something. We’ll just need to find another lead,” assured Mingi.

Jongho took some deep breaths.

Before they could leave, Yeosang stopped them.

“Guys, we might have something.”

They looked down on the first floor and saw some guys come in.

The guys looked around suspiciously, clearly checking to see if they had been followed or not. Both the guys wore all black. They looked like normal crooks.

The guys waited there for a few minutes.

Mingi yawned.

“Really?!” Jongho quietly exclaimed.

“Sorry, this is kind of boring,” Mingi replied.

The two whisper argued back and forth till finally Yeosang stopped them and directed their attention towards the guys.

A woman walked in. She too wore all black but her attire was more sophisticated if that makes sense.

She wore a long sleeve with the torso part being leather and the sleeves being cotton. She also wore leather pants and knee-high boots.

She stopped right in front of the men. She gave them a look of annoyance, clearly showing her uninterest in them.

“Hello. Thank you for meeting us here,” one man said.

She scoffed. “This better not be a waste of my time. What makes you guys capable of what we need to be done? These aren’t just normal people we want ‘taken care of’. You’ll need some sort of “specialty” to even come close to taking out half of one,” the woman implied.

“Trust me, ma’am. We have what it takes. Just give us a chance,” one guy pleaded.

“You’d better be right. I don’t have time to waste on money-hungry humans who don’t have what it takes to get the job done,” said the woman with disgust.

She pulled out phone looking devices and handed each of them one.

“Now, I’m giving you 48 hours to complete a task. Think of this as your trial run. Do this, and then you’ll have access to the big money,” the woman instructed.

“Who do you want us to eliminate?”

The woman was silent for a second.

“I want you to acquire a woman named Kwon Nayoung. She should already be on your list. She needs to be alive,” the woman stated.

“Why her specifically?” One guy asked.

“Let’s just say she’s needed for a special purpose. But that’s not any of your concern. You're just here for the money remember?” The woman got a little frustrated.

“Yes ma’am, I was just wondering,” the guy said with audible fright in his voice.

“It’s not your place to wonder. And stop calling me ma’am; I’m not your Grandma,” she said angrily.

“Yes, ma- Uh I-” the man stuttered.

“Oh shut up. You guys are as dumb as they come. Maybe I shou-” she was cut off by a very loud sound.

Jongho, Yeosang and Mingi all looked at each other with horror. They realized their backup alarm was going off.

Someone needed backup.

They quickly turned it off but it was too late. The villains were looking straight at them.

The two crooks made a run for it.

“Mingi go after them,” commanded Yeosang.

Mingi sprinted towards the window and jumped out.

Jongho and Yeosang both jumped down from the second floor to the first.

The woman chuckled. She slowly created a whip out of thin air, generating from her hand. It looked like black sand almost.

She then quickly whipped it around, wrapping around Jongho’s arm.

He looked down in panic and noticed his skin around the whip began to wither.

In reflex, he generated his steel skin.

The whip slid off and the woman looked in anger.

“You want to play that game. Alright then. Let’s play,” she said with an evil grin.

She launched herself from the ground and air tackled Jongho to the wall, shattering it like glass.

Yeosang went to help but was stopped by a voice.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. She’s probably too strong for you anyway.”

Yeosang turned around to see a man in a jumpsuit. He looked for a second then realized it was Hyunsik, the crazy steel factory guy.

“What are you doing here?” Yeosang looked at the man with confusion.

“The better question is what are you doing here? I thought I told you there was nothing going on at this location. You should’ve just left it at that,” said Hyunsik with sarcastic disappointment in his voice.

“You think I’d listen to a psycho? You practically showed us 12 different personalities in your office,” said Yeosang.

“Well that’s not the only reason why you came, is it? I think I remember a certain little boy giving you some tips. I should’ve known that little street rat was gonna open his mouth. My faith in this next generation is lost,” Hyunsik complained.

Yeosang began to slightly panic. “What does that mean? Where is that boy? What did you do to him?”

The man chuckled.

“Let’s just say I exterminated our rodent problem,” teased Hyunsik.

Rage pumped through Yeosang.

“You’re sick.”

“Impossible. You can’t get sick if you're a cyborg. But you know all about that already, don’t you,” asked Hyunsik.

Yeosang looked at him in confusion.

“What’s the matter? Did I push the wrong button? I’m clumsy like that sometimes,” Hyunsik laughed.

They struggled to keep their balance. Jongho and the woman kept fighting, destroying everything in the process. The building was beginning to fall.

Through all the destruction, Yeosang heard something that made him stop. There was chanting. He heard it very faintly but he heard it nonetheless. He looked up to Hyunsik and noticed him start to panic.

Rage flowed through Hyunsik. In an attempt to eliminate Yeosang, he turned his arm into a blaster and began to shoot at him.

Yeosang turned one of his arm bracelets into a shield, deflecting all of Hyunsik’s blasts.

Jongho and the woman were still fighting. Each hit they made destroyed more of the building.

Yeosang didn’t want to, but he had no choice. He was hoping they would be able to get out without any altercations. He needed to call for backup. No matter what consequences they would face, they needed help.

He reached for his arm bracelet and pressed the button.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really love feedback, y'all! 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


	4. Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Battles break out everywhere. More secrets are uncovered. Will the team be able to stop this threat before it gets out of hand?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again thanks to @chirpb for her help.

Hongjoong looked at the computers in panic. So much was going on all at once.

Three of the members were being attacked at the movie theaters. He had no idea what the threat was but he knew that San, Wooyoung, and Yunho were there.

Three others were at the West building. Hongjoong was angered by this news but had no time to be angry now. Again, he had no information on the threat but knew Yeosang, Mingi, and Jongho were there.

He and Seonghwa were the only two back at base. 

Seonghwa watched the screen with concern.

“What are we going to do? Both groups need back up,” Seonghwa panicked.

Hongjoong analyzed the screen.

“We split up. You go to the West building and help the three there. I will go and see what the problem is at the theater. Got it,” Hongjoong instructed.

Seonghwa nodded in agreement and ran out of the room. Hongjoong took one last look at the screen then followed Seonghwa.

\----------

Yunho kept dodging bullets. 

The man was beginning to get frustrated. He grunted and pulled out more guns, shooting what seemed like all of his ammo.

The girl finally ran over towards him and threw something on the ground. It exploded and released goopy, sticky stuff, causing Yunho to get caught and stuck to the ground.

The man stopped shooting and walked up to Yunho.

“You’ve caused enough trouble for one night son. I think it’s past your bedtime,” he chuckled.

Yunho glared at the man.

“You're quite the handful if I do say so myself. You move way too much sweetheart. Let’s fix that,” the woman added. She pulled off her glove, her nails glowing a bright green.

Yunho looked in horror.

“Are you… enhanced?” Yunho watched as the woman’s nails dripped a mysterious slimy liquid.

“Did you think we were just regular old town folk? No, no, no sweetheart. We’ve got to have something to take people like you down. I mean there are others who don’t need enhancements to take you down but, this just… gives us an edge,” the woman blabbed.

Yunho looked back at the man.

“What’s yours?” Yunho asked the man.

“Well, not that it’s gonna matter to you since your gonna die. But it’s tracking. I find people like you. I can sense abilities and enhanced,” explained the man.

“How did you not know I was one of them then? You acted like you had no idea I was enhanced,” Yunho snapped.

“Well let’s just say speedsters are just harder to track. Always been a problem of mine and I can’t say it makes me happy. Doesn’t matter much anyways cause uh- you’re about to die.”

The girl then quickly cut his arm causing him to lose feeling and fall over.

“What did you do to me?”

“I paralyzed you. You must not have a brain,” said the woman sarcastically.

The man held out his gun and pointed it at paralyzed Yunho.

Before he shot, a loud beep started.

The man knelt down and studied Yunho’s body, looking for the source of the sound.

He noticed his watch. Their team watch that allowed them to communicate and call for backup.

“You’re a professional hero. You’re apart of a team,” stated the man.

“Wow, so observant of you. You could be a scientist or something,” said Yunho sarcastically.

“Well, he’s got a mouth. Too bad your teammates won’t be here to hear it scream,” the man said sinisterly.

“You think I came alone?” Yunho said causing him to pause.

Just then, the theater doors flew open. San and Wooyoung ran out and got into fighting positions.

Blue energy began to surround Wooyoung. His irises glowed blue as well. His claws and teeth were a transparent blue, like his energy was what made them.

He roared, shaking the building and it’s walls. The couple flinched at his roar.

Sans irises began to glow purple. Holding out his hand, he summoned his sword. It popped out of thin air.

The couple looked in anger.

“Woah guys that was awesome! You literally came right on queue. I said “You think I came alone?” which is like super mysterious and cool and then you guys jumped out and it was like-”

“Yunho, shut up,” San said, cutting him off.

“How did you not sense them!” The woman snapped at the man.

“They’re Aura Spirits. I can’t sense those,” stated the man angrily.

The two then charged towards the couple, starting a fight.

San and the man fought, the man using two blades against San’s katana.

Wooyoung and the woman used hand to hand combat, both scratching at each other with claws and missing.

Wooyoung flipped over the girl and power kicked her at the wall.

“Yunho, get up we need your help!” Wooyoung yelled at a stationary Yunho.

“I can’t. I’m paralyzed. Temporarily I hope. Oh, and by the way, her claws can paralyze you,” Yunho warned.

Wooyoung looked at her glowing green claws.

“Well, that’s fun. Thanks for the heads up.” Wooyoung jumped towards the woman and resumed their fight. 

The two battled left and right. Theater equipment was completely destroyed in the process.

Popcorn, soda, candy all thrown across the room.

The girl slid under Wooyoung and scratched the back of his leg causing him to fall. 

“Two down. One to go,” she smirked.

She ran over to aid her lover.

Trying to get a good shot at San, she clawed at him, missing all her hits. Finally, she leaped and got the back of his neck.

Right before her paralyzing blow, San’s blade cut off her hand.

She looked at her hand and screamed in terror.

“What’s going on? Hello?” Yunho, unable to turn and look himself, watched the wall in front of him and hollard to see what was happening. 

The man loaded his shotgun.

“You realize what you just did? You just pissed me off,” the man said, pointing his gun at San’s head.

A green blast hit the man causing him to fly across the room. An identical blast jolted the woman in the same direction.

The man sat up with rage.

“What now!”

He looked to see Hongjoong. 

His suit was grey and black armor with green stripes running up and down it. He wore a straight visor across his eyes.

“Now who are you?” The man stood up and looked at Hongjoong for an answer.

“Shield X. You?”

“Tired of this,” the man snarked, aiming his gun at Hongjoong.

Hongjoong created a forcefield and stopped his bullets.

Hongjoongs power caused the lights and electricity to flip out more than it already was. It was something he was used to since his power stemmed from energy. 

The man was then hit in the head and knocked out, the woman following after.

Hongjoong put down his shield to see who it was.

A man stood there, wearing an all-black militaristic suit, holding a gun in his hands.

Hongjoong stood there for a second then smiled.

“Eden! What are you doing here?” Eden smiled.

Eden is a long-time friend to the team and helped them in their trainee days. He didn’t have powers but was very skilled in other categories and was apart of a special military unit.

“I got the news that this place was under attack. I know heroes are usually on it but I was in the neighborhood,” he explained, walking up to Hongjoong to greet him.

“Well good. Maybe now you can help me figure out how to uh- help these guys,” Hongjoong said, pointing to the members all struck with paralyzation.

“Oh, we should also probably turn them in. I’ll call the police,” Hongjoong said reaching for his watch.

“Wait,” Eden stopped Hongjoong and pointed to the couple. A buzzing was coming from them.

Hongjoong walked up and examined the couple. He then reached for the source of the sound and found that it was the phone looking device. 

It began beeping. 

“What’s happening?” 

Hongjoong and Eden watched the couple intently.

Suddenly, the devices erupted and a black sand type substance came out. It floated around the couple then disappeared.

The couple was almost completely decayed.

“What was that?” Eden looked at Hongjoong with horror.

Hongjoong did the same.

“I don’t know.”

\------------

Mingi chased the crooks for a couple of blocks. He dodged cars and other objects, losing energy in the process.

The two crooks ran down an alleyway, picking up anything they could find and throwing it at Mingi to slow him down.

They got to a fence then climbed a dumpster to get over it. Mingi used his fire to boost him over.

He finally caught up to them and air tackled them to the ground. The two then began to kick and punch at Mingi. 

He blocked all their hits and power kicked both of them onto a pile of trash bags.

Holding out his hand, a medium-sized flame roared from his hand. It caused the criminals to flinch.

“What was that about? Was she hiring you guys to kill people?”

“We’re not telling you! We’re not snitches.” one man said, spitting at Mingi and missing.

Mingi’s flame grew bigger, getting closer to the guys and causing them to sweat profusely.

“Alright! She was. That’s all though,” one guy said. 

“Oh buddy, you’re going to have to say a lot more than that,” Mingi warned.

“Okay- well you see-” he was suddenly cut off by a small blade thrown right into his chest.

The other guy looked up towards the roof of the building behind Mingi.

“No, no, no please don’t I swear I won’t-” a similar blade hit him.

Mingi’s eyes widened and he looked back at the building. He saw a cloaked figure standing there mysteriously.

“Who are you? Why did you do that?!”

The cloaked figure then chucked an object towards Mingi. Landing right in front of Mingi, the small metallic object began to glow red. A sort of zooming sound radiated from the object and got louder and louder.

Mingi then realized what it was.

Using his fire, he attempted to make a shield.

But he was beaten to the punch by the object exploding and blowing him away.

\----------------

The West building was falling apart.

Yeosang’s arm shield was beginning to dent. He grabbed a disk looking object from his belt and threw it like a frisbee towards Hyunsik.

BOOM!

The disk exploded and Hyunsik went flying.

Yeosang closed his arm shield and ran towards Hyunsik. The two then battled.

Yeosang punched Hyunsik in the stomach then picked him up and chucked him across the building. He then used a jetpack boost and landed right in front of Hyunsik, using his leg to keep him on the ground.

“You could be like me Yeosang. Powerful. You don’t even know what you’re capable of. People look down on you because you’re a cyborg. But they don’t realize how much power you wield. Let me show you,” Hyunsik pitched to Yeosang, slowly moving his leg off his chest and holding his hand out.

Yeosang looked at him with visible desire.

He then sighed deeply, ignoring the loud and destructive conflict in the background.

“You really think I’m that stupid,” Yeosang glared at Hyunsik then used his arm bracelet to blast him.

Hyunsik went flying towards the wall.

Debris fell on top of him, caving him in and burying him under a giant pile of brick and metal.

Yeosang waited for a second then let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, Hyunsik emerged from the rubble and began to pop everything back into place. His arms and fingers twisted all the way around, his head popped in several places, his shoulder was pushed back. This all sounds grosser than it looks. With him being a cyborg, it all looked mechanical if that makes sense. It was still gross though.

Hyunsik smirked at a frowning Yeosang.

“Fine then. I’ll show you what you’re capable of the hard way,” Hyunsik said wickedly.

He then jumped towards Yeosang, speeding through the air.

He landed in front of Yeosang and grabbed him by his neck. He held him in the air, suffocating him. He may have had robot parts but his lungs were still human. Yeosang hit and punched Hyunsik’s arms. He didn’t budge.

He then flew up with rocket boosters and took him through the roof. He chucked Yeosang towards the parking lot of the West building. Yeosang hit old construction vehicles and completely dented them.

Hyunsik flew back towards him and picked him up again, only to throw him back into the building.

Jongho and the woman were still fighting.

The woman was winning. She had Jongho on the ground, her high heel placed on his chest.

Yeosang saw him and tried to get up to help but was weak. His gear was wrecked. His helmet glitched on the inside. His vitals were low and a beeping sound was blasting in his ear warning him to get help.

The same black sand looking stuff emerged from the woman’s hand and created a spear.

She held it up, ready to plunge it into Jongho.

Suddenly, she began to float. She clearly wasn’t flying herself. She looked around in confusion.

Then, she was catapulted through another wall.

Seonghwa landed right in front of Jongho.

“I’m s- sorry,” Jongho said weakly.

“We’ll talk about this later. Right now we need to get you out of here,” Seonghwa assured, with a hint of anger in his voice.

Hyunsik jumped towards Seonghwa but he force pushed him with his power away.

Not intentionally, Hyunsik flew right into a large pike from the debris.

Seonghwa looked at him with terror.

“I didn’t mean to-,” he was cut off by Yeosang.

“Don’t be sorry. He would’ve killed all of us.”

Yeosang got up slowly, pain showing in his posture.

He walked towards Hyunsik who was barely breathing.

“You’re a monster. What did you do to that boy?”

Hyunsik looked at Yeosang and chuckled sinisterly.

“What do you think I did? I ended it. Just like I did to his father. I’d like to say I regretted it but I enjoyed every second,” the man said in excruciating detail.

Yeosang stepped back slowly, giving him a look of disbelief from under his helmet.

He then turned away and started to walk.

“I wasn’t lying you know,” said Hyunsik, stopping Yeosang in his place.

“You can do so much. But you have no idea how. You’re too scared of yourself. A weakness that’ll kill you off soon enough. You have lots of power. Such a waste. I can see it coming off of you. You are-” he began to cough then he stopped.

Yeosang looked back to see him unresponsive.

He then heard all of Hyunsik's internal systems began to shut down.

He was dead.

His train of thought was cut off by the woman coming back through the wall and heading straight for Seonghwa.

Seonghwa quickly used his telekinesis to stop her. She was fighting back as he held her back.

When Seonghwa uses his power, a sort of yellow energy glows around the object he’s using telekinesis on.

Glowing yellow energy was right in between Seonghwa and the woman.

“I can’t believe what I’m seeing. This is quite incredible,” the woman said, still pushing against his telekinetic shield.

Seonghwa looked at her with confusion.

“What are you talking about?” He asked her with disgust.

“You have no idea what you are, where you come from. Pathetic,” she chuckled.

“Shut up! You’re going straight to Shin’s prison,” Seonghwa said with anger.

She continued, ignoring his last statement.

“A real Sopharan right before my eyes. This must be my lucky day.”

Seonghwa was caught off guard by her statement.

She pushed through his field and power punched him towards the ground. She walked towards him and stood above him.

“Well, it’s a shame I have to kill you now. It was so cool to see someone of your reputation though,” she said almost sarcastically.

Just then. A small star blade hit her arm.

She looked at it angrily then looked at it as if she knew what it was.

A woman glided through the broken walls then kicked the other woman away.

The evil woman stood up and spit blood from her mouth.

“Huntra, what a surprise you’re here.”

“We’re going by our codenames now? Well then, Sintress, what are you doing here?”

Seonghwa and Yeosang looked at them in confusion.

“Just leaving,” she looked at everyone in the room then continued,” You haven’t seen the last of me.”

The same black sand stuff surrounded her then she disappeared.

Seonghwa stood up and looked at Huntra.

“Wait, Huntra? You mean your Huntra? One of the most famous heroes of all time? What are you doing here?”

Huntra looked at Seonghwa and sighed deeply.

“Yes, it’s me. You guys are that rookie team right? Ateez?”

Seonghwa nodded with excitement.

“So you know us?”

She nodded.

“Your reputation proceeds you guys.”

She looked at the other two, still injured from the huge battle that destroyed the building.

“Now tell me, why the heck were you fighting Sintress.”

Seonghwa looked at the other two. Jongho sat up slowly and sat against some debris.

“We think she’s been behind the crimes that have been going on lately,” Jongho said weakly.

Suddenly Yeosang gasped. Everyone directed their attention to him.

“Where’s Mingi? He isn’t back yet?”

Then, a group of fire trucks sped past the broken building, sirens blasting.

“Do you think they meant to come here?” Jongho said coughing frantically.

“The building isn’t on fire,” Huntra replied.

Seonghwa’s eyes widened.

“MIngi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please give feedback and look forward to more chapters.


	5. Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get progressively worse for the boys as things become more clear. No one can be trusted. Can they stop this threat before anything else happens?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to @chirpb for her help.

Seonghwa entered the recovery lab, their own little hospital located in the base.

He saw Jongho, Yeosang, and Mingi all laying in separate healing pods. Hongjoong and Yeosang had created health droids that helped with injuries from battles. They were formally known as H.O.T (Health & Operation Technologies) or Hot Bots.

The droids wheeled around, grabbing supplies and tools to help the injured members.

Seonghwa had a sad look on his face. Just then, Huntra walked in and stood next to him.

“They’ll be fine. This is part of the job. And it seems like you guys have got this part down with all these uh- droid things.”

“Yeah you’re right. I’m just disappointed. They went out there without permission and took on those villains not being prepared. I don’t know what they were thinking,” Seonghwa vented.

“Well at least none of them took on Sintress, right?”

“No, I think Jongho did.”

Huntra looked at Seonghwa with worry.

“You mean to tell me he took on Sintress? I hope his enhancement is strength”

Seonghwa had a scared expression on his face.

“Yea he’s a brute,” Seonghwa assured.

Huntra looked at Jongho for a second then back at Seonghwa.

“That guy is not a brute. He’s too- small,” Huntra said with skepticism in her voice.

“No, not an actual brute. You know the term they use for people with enhanced strength?” 

“Is that what they call it now? Interesting,” Huntra said looking around the room.

“Why would it be bad if anyone took her on? I mean she did have enhanced strength according to Yeosang, but anyone can take on a brute with strategy and power,” Seonghwa stated.

“Enhanced strength is an understatement. My sister is a demigod,” Huntra stated.

Seonghwa looked at her in shock.

“You mean to tell me that Jongho took on a demigod? Wait wait wait- your sister?!”

“Yes my sister,” she said with annoyance in her voice.

“Does that make you a demigod?” Seonghwa looked at her with shock.

“Well, kind of. We have the same parents but I’m not necessarily a demigod. I do have enhanced strength- not as much as your friend though. I’m able to fight demigods and uh- brutes and withstand their power but I’m not a demigod. There isn’t a clear reason why but it just happened that way. Some have said it was because she was given it. I don’t know though,” explained Huntra.

Seonghwa shrugged.

“Well, that’s confusing. Will Jongho be okay?”

Huntra analyzed him, looking at his injuries.

“What level is he?”

Seonghwa stuttered.”Uh- 10.”

“Yea he’ll live. It’s not as bad as it looks. He could’ve taken her on if you guys knew she was a demigod. Especially if he’s a level 10.”

Hongjoong walked over to Seonghwa and Huntra. He looked at her and bowed.

“It is an honor to have a senior hero at our HQ. And we really appreciate your help,” Hongjoong said respectfully.

She bowed back. “I’m glad I could help. Now I can inform you guys what you’ve been up against,” she stated.

Hongjoong nodded.

Eden entered the room and joined their conversation.

“Huntra, an honor,” he said bowing as Hongjoong did.

She bowed back.

“Are you on the team?” Huntra asked looking at him with unease.

“No, ma’am. I’m an old friend. I’m with the special unit in the military. Just here to help,” he answered.

“Right,” she said hesitantly.

“As I was telling uh-” she motioned at Seonghwa for a name. 

“Oh- Seonghwa,” he stated, giving Huntra sort of half-smile half I’m in pain type of look. That face was something Seonghwa always did. Was he in pain? Was he sad? Was he happy? The team never knew when he did that.

She looked at him weirdly. “Uh- right. Seonghwa. I was telling him that they just took on My sister who's also a demigod,” she implied.

“Demigod?! Wait- Sister?!” Both Hongjoong and Eden exclaimed in unison.

“Yes, We’ve been over this. Seonghwa will fill you in on that later. Anyways, the problem with her being a demigod is that her strength is probably higher than Jongho’s. It varies, but we’re lucky he’s alive. He must have incredible strength,” reassured the warrior.

“Well his strength level has always been off the charts. A lot stronger than other brutes I’ve gone against,” the leader added.

“Maybe if he used more of his other abilities he could actually go against her,” Eden suggested.

“We should maybe hold back on going against her again anytime soon. We need to get more information on her and possibly what she’s been up to,” Seonghwa stated.

Everyone nodded in agreement. A Hot Bot rolled up next to Hongjoong and looked to him like a child about to ask their parent for something.

“Status report,” Hongjoong commanded.

“Well sir, Kang Yeosang has nanotechnology that is helping his robotic side to heal. As for his human side, we were able to stabilize him and attended to his injuries. He will be fine,” the robot implied.

“Well, that’s good news. The others?”

“Choi Jongho is healing quite well. We’ve triggered his brain into defense mode, causing him to use his steel skin. That state allows him to heal faster,” the robot added.

“And Mingi?” Hongjoong looked at the robot with hope.

“Mingi is in a peculiar state, sir. It is very well pertaining to our curiosities, as the homo sapiens would imply. His vitals are in good condition but he isn’t responding. He has a resistance to fire so this is quite confusing sir. It’s almost as if he’s in a dormant state,” said the Hot Bot.

“Sleeping? Maybe his body is in like a shutdown mode so he can heal,” said Eden.

“Mingi has never needed to sleep to heal. He just sleeps to sleep. His power allows him to heal a lot faster than us but it never required sleep,” Hongjoong assured.

“We will keep a watchful eye on him, sir,” the Hot Bot stated.

Hongjoong thanked the bot and sent him away. The four looked at each other with confusion.

“Well, I’m going to go check on the others. Eden come with me please,” Hongjoong instructed.

Seonghwa immediately turned to Huntra with a look of concern on his face. Not quite his confusing painful smile but close.

Huntra looked at him and gave an awkward smile. “What’s uh- what’s up,” she said weirdly.

“I need to ask you a question,” said Seonghwa with a ‘bad news’ tone in his voice. She was still giving him that awkward smile but it slowly diminished. “Alright, shoot,” she replied, giving him a look of hope.

Seonghwa looked around and grabbed her wrist. He dragged her into his room and closed the sliding door by the push of a crimson button perfectly placed on the wall.

“We just met Seonghwa,” she stated, awkward smile fully turned upside down, forming an almost disgusted yet guilty look.

“What? Oh no! That’s not why I brought you here. Geez,” Seonghwa said, slapping his palm right in the center of his forehead.

She chuckled. “I was kidding what’s up?”

He sighed deeply and sat down on a chair used for his desk. She took that as a sign to follow and sat gracefully on his neatly made bed. Not much color in his room but very tidy which was to be expected by Seonghwa.

“When I battled your sister or ‘ _ Sintress _ ’ I should call her, she said something about me,” Seonghwa looked down at his hands that were locked together whilst he twiddled his thumbs, “She called me something.”

Huntra looked at Seonghwa with confusion. “What did she call you?” Huntra and Seonghwa sat in silence. She motioned to him a few times to tell him but he was quiet.

“She called me something like a sophomore or Sophron or-” he tried to remember what she called him but couldn’t. 

“Sophomore?” she questioned, confusion face a lot more confused. He sat there trying to remember the name she used. He began to rub his temples aggressively until finally she broke the silence.

“Sopharan?”

He looked at her, eyes wider than Mingi’s when they order take out. 

“That’s it! That’s what she called me! A Sopharan!” He stood up with a smile then sat right back down again with a smile turned into pure smolder.

“Do you know what that is?” he asked, looking at her with childlike hope.

She nodded. “Yea I know what that is. But why on earth would she call you that? How would she know unless… wait- what’s your power?” she questioned surprisingly calm.

He used his telekinesis to lift up a lamp peacefully sitting on his dustless desk. The gold swirls of energy flew around the lamp, indicating that that was his telekinesis. It was sort of a signature thing like he was using energy to perform telekinesis.

Her eyes widened. “Oh. That’s why,” she said, eyes stuck on the demonstration of his power. She turned her head showing that she was analyzing it.

He stopped to bring her attention back to him. “So, what does it mean?”

She shook her head as if coming back from a daydream. “Well, it means that you’re a Sopharan. I didn’t think it was possible because- Sopharans are extinct. I’m very confused right now,” she blabbed.

“Extinct? That’s probably why I’ve never heard of a Sopharan,” Seonghwa assured.

“Well that and also they aren’t earth beings,” Huntra said casually.

Seonghwa gave her a look of panic.

“Not earth beings?! Are you saying that I’m an alien?!” Seonghwa began to breathe heavy, grabbing his chest and clawing at it while ignoring the pain. Huntra grabbed his hand and gave him a reassuring smile.

“No Sopharans aren’t aliens. They aren’t of  _ our _ earth. Sopharans come from a different dimension. A dimension only known as the War Dimension,” the femme fatale explained. 

“War Dimension? So is there always a war going on?” He almost sounded like a curious child.

“No. But war was always looming. It’s a place of conquest and total domination. No one has ever completely ruled that place or at least that’s what I was told, which was a while ago. Kings and Queens all abide there with armies equipped with powerful weapons. Lots of mystic stuff, but that really isn’t my lane. Of course, I am more of a practical girl myself, if you couldn’t tell,” she said trying to lighten the mood.

Suddenly, a flash of what seemed like a dream appeared in Seonghwa’s head. A vision. It showed a temple. It was under attack. Men and Women with swords, shields, bows and arrows, the lot of weapons all running towards the temple. In the temple were people in robes. They were using familiar yellow energy to hold the warriors back. The army broke through the barriers and impaled the robed beings. Women ran with children but were caught by the weapon-wielding characters. 

His dream was cut off by his body being shaken. Huntra’s arms were around Seonghwa’s shoulders. She shook him violently and screamed his name.

“Seonghwa! Seonghwa snap out of it!” She noticed him come back mentally and sat back down on the bed. “What happened?” She looked at him with concern.

“I - I don't know,” he said with tears beginning to form. He quickly wiped them away and looked at her with a need for guidance.

“Must’ve triggered something. Like a vision or a memory. I’m sorry, this might be too much for you. I think we should give you time to-” she began to stand up when Seonghwa grabbed her wrist and held it tightly. She looked at him with concern then sat back down.

“It’s okay. Tell me everything you know,” Seonghwa instructed lightly.

“Are you sure?”

He nodded silently.

“Well, it’s not much. I’ve only heard tales and such. Sopharans were very highly respected beings in the War Dimension. They were usually used by kings and queens to help them be strategic. But they were also used as personal bodyguards. Their power was feared amongst other people. Telekinesis is a very strong power, along with telepathy and even empathy. But the power they feared most was their ability to control minds. Although most telepaths can make a command using someone’s own mind, it was more like a small mind trick. Sopharans could control someone completely, and even multiple people at a time. ”

She cleared her throat.

“That power was feared amongst the people in that realm. A certain king with the power to take came along and heard of them and their abilities. Instead of recruiting some to be his royal guard, he tried to steal their power. But something in their people wouldn’t allow that to happen. In anger, he protested. If he couldn’t have that power, no one could. So he issued a total genocide of the Sopharan people.” She stopped and gave him the sort of ‘What do you think’ type of look.

“Well, so much for  _ I don’t know much _ ,” he said sarcastically.

She chuckled and punched his arm awkwardly.

“How do you know so much about this? Are you from the War Dimension?”

“I’m not. I was raised by a man I called my master or sensei. He trained me in many forms of battle and defense. He was from the War Dimension. A place where every single form was used,” she answered.

He sat there quietly and began to play with his thumbs again.

“So, you good then?” She waited for an answer while he still looked down at his twiddling thumbs.

“Yea I’m just- still a little confused. How am I the last survivor? Was I born in the War Dimension? If I was, how did I get here?” He looked to her again for answers.

“Well, Something seems a bit off about you. Like your not all Sopharan. Do you have enhanced strength?”

He shook his head.

“Well, I think you might only be half Sopharan. Sopharans also had enhanced strength. Not at Jongho’s level but still stronger than the average Joe,” she stated sarcastically. 

“I think it’s a possibility that your only half,” she continued.

He looked at her with that same face of both pain and joy. She sighed aggressively and shook her head.

“Why do you keep- you know what, never mind,” she said in frustration.

He looked at her with a puzzled face. “What’s wrong, what is it?”

She gave the same awkward smile. “It’s nothing. I have a feeling the answer to my question would be that you do that a lot.”

He still looked puzzled.

“It’s nothing. So, what are you gonna do now?” He sighed deeply and shrugged with “Oh well” written all over it.

“I don’t know. There isn’t much I can do. I could ask my parents but I’ll do it when there isn’t a crazy demigoddess issuing death to random people. I should stay focused on the mission at hand,” he assured, standing up and holding his hand out to help her up.

She grabbed his hand and gracefully stood up. He opened his arms for a hug and waited for her embrace.

He looked to see her shaking her head.

“Mmmmm, not there yet,” she said, a chuckle beginning to form.

He put his arms down and looked down in embarrassment. She punched his arm once more and laughed out loud. He laughed back to make himself feel less embarrassed.

“By the way, what’s your real name? I mean, you know mine and everyone else’s,” he said, waiting for an answer.

“Well, you guys just started using your real names as if you didn’t care. You should probably be more careful with that,” she warned. He nodded again in embarrassment. 

“But if you really want to know, it’s Hyolyn,” the older answered, giving him a real smile. Her smile was beautiful, as was just her in general. 

Seonghwa smiled back. “Hyolyn. I love it. It fits.” She looked down whilst beginning to blush. The two then exited the room.

\------------

Hongjoong stood next to Yunho and examined the area where she presumably ‘cut’ him.

“I swear she clawed me right here. She cut me then I couldn’t move. And you know how much I don’t like not being able to move,” Yunho complained.

Hongjoong sighed in frustration. “Well Yunho, there’s nothing here. I don’t know what this means but it doesn’t really matter anymore because uh- she’s dead,” Hongjoong exclaimed.

“It’s possible you could’ve just healed fast. I mean it was only a small cut,” Eden added.

The two sat there in awkward silence. “I guess that would make sense. You do have faster healing,” Hongjoong admitted. He walked over to Wooyoung to examine him.

While everyone talked, San sat in silence. He mostly observed and listened to everyone’s conversations.

He rubbed his eyes from fatigue. When he stopped he was somewhere else.

The room was dark. He couldn’t see anything. He touched the walls to locate a light switch but was unsuccessful. His eyes then began to glow purple. It allowed him to see in the dark.

He noticed he was in a closet. A maintenance closet. He discovered the door and opened it. It seemed like he was in a basement or storage room of some kind. He walked around aimlessly down hallways and through rooms, knowing not of where he was.

He then found a big vault door. It had a wheel on it. San looked at it as if he knew what it was. It was familiar. But he couldn’t put his finger on it. He turned the wheel a few times and opened the big hunk of steel.

He walked in and saw more boxes. In frustration, he slouched his shoulders. He turned around to leave when he heard a voice.

“Excuse me, sir,” a voice called out.

San jumped in fear and turned around to see the source of the sound. He saw a man wearing a jumpsuit. The jumpsuit looked familiar. Everything seemed familiar but it wasn’t coming to mind.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I was just wondering if you know where we are. I can’t exactly put my finger on it but it seems familiar,” the man said timidly.

San sighed with relief. “I don’t know where we are either. I’m glad there’s somebody else here though. I need to fi-” San stopped and looked around with concern.

“What’s wrong? Do you know where we are sir?” San ignored him and kept looking around.

“I was just at the base. How did I get here? I was just with the team,” San said with uncertainty.

“Sir, I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the man interfered. San looked at the man.

“What’s your name?” The man looked at San with unease.

“Excuse me?”

“What is your name?” San seemed more forceful. The man flinched as if San jumped at him.

“Uh- Donghae. Choi Donghae,” the man answered truthfully.

San began to sweat profusely. His breathing got heavier and he fell to the ground.

“Are you okay sir? Should we call for help?”

San ignored the man, still breathing heavily. He pounded the ground causing the man to back up.

“How’s this possible? How is this happening? This isn’t real. This isn’t real,” San chanted.

The man looked at San with concern. “What isn’t real? Sir, could you tell me how I can help you? Is this some sort of panic attack?” The man interrogated San causing him to freak out even more.

“This isn’t real. This isn’t real, This. Isn’t. Real. This isn’t real!” The man ran to San and grabbed his arms, turning him to look into his eyes.

“Sir! What isn’t real!”

“You’re supposed to be… you’re sup-” San stuttered as he started to lose consciousness. 

“Spit it out!”

“You're supposed to be dead!”

The man stepped back slowly. He shook his head.

“What are you talking about? Are you insane?” The man shook his head in denial, still slowly walking back from San.

Just then, San heard a distant yell. Someone was calling his name. A voice he recognized.

“San! San wake up!” 

Just then he realized whose voice it was. Hongjoong’s.

Everything turned white then he opened his eyes to Hongjoong, Wooyoung, Eden, and Yunho standing in front of him. They all had a face of worry.

“Are you okay? Did you pass out or something?” Hongjoong flashed a light into his eyes. San squeezed them shut in protest.

“I- I’m fine,” San said, swatting the flashlight away.

“Dude, we thought you were a goner,” said Yunho. Wooyoung looked at Yunho with annoyance.

“No, we didn’t think he was a goner. His heart was still beating and he was still breathing,” Wooyoung snapped.

Yunho gave a guilty smile then turned his attention back to San.

“You were acting strange though. Your irises were glowing uh- purple. As if you were using your power,” Eden stated.

San looked at them in confusion. Suddenly they noticed smoke entering the room.

A Hot Bot rolled in, head in scorching flames. The team all jumped at the sudden sight. 

“Excuse me, sir Hongjoong. Song Mingi has awakened from his dormant state and with a bang so the humans say. Now if you’ll excuse me I mu-” The robot began to malfunction. Sparks began to fly and wires sprang out from the melting robotic head.

It then fell over, power completely shutting down.

Hongjoong turned back to San, motioning for him to give a quick answer as to what had happened to him earlier.

“Later,” San answered, jumping down from the examining table and running into the recovery lab. The others followed.

Seonghwa and Huntra were already in the room, using a fire extinguisher to extinguish the flames. Jongho was back in his normal skin wearing bandages. He sat up in his healing pod and looked at the problem. Yeosang was plugged into a bunch of wires. He too had his attention towards the disruptive scene.

Mingi’s healing pod was completely disintegrated. He was engulfed in flames, floating above where the healing pod use to be.

He finally made contact with the ground and the fire slowly began to extinguish itself.

Mingi was completely naked. His clothes were the ashes floating around him.

He looked around in desperation. He had no clue what was happening.

He slowly looked down to see his possession out for the world to see. He shrieked like a five-year-old girl and grabbed the nearest piece of clothing. A blanket sat on the table closest to him. He quickly wrapped himself in it and looked to the rest of the members.

“Mingi, what happened?” Hongjoong slowly approached the younger. 

“I don’t know. I remember the explosion and I tried to stop it but I was too slow. It blew me away. I remember thinking that I would be fine because I’m fire-resistant and I tried to absorb the fire so that it wouldn’t spread. But when I did, I went unconscious,” recollected Mingi. 

The team all listened carefully.

“Why would you pass out from it? You’ve absorbed fire before. That’s never happened,” Yunho stated.

“Do you think it was too much fire for you to handle?” Huntra added.

Mingi looked at the female warrior with confusion. “Is that…”

Seonghwa nodded. “Yes, we’ll tell you later.” Mingi just nodded.

“To answer your question, no. I’ve literally absorbed big buildings before, that was nothing. Of course, there is a limit but I can usually tell when I’m about to hit it. At that point, I use some energy to balance it out. I absorbed a tiny bit, then I was out,” Mingi assured.

The team looked at each other with confusion.

“Let’s get you into some clothes then we can talk about this after you rest,” Seonghwa instructed, taking Mingi and guiding him to his room.

A bunch of cleaner bots came zooming in. Another type of robot Hongjoong created. Seonghwa liked cleaning so the cleaner bots were only used for hazardous messes and hard to clean stuff.

Hongjoong exited the room with the rest of the team following.

\-----------

The team all sat in their assigned seating in the debriefing room. Huntra and Eden joined their meeting but stood in the corner of the room.

Yeosang and Jongho still had injuries but were good enough to walk on their own and attend the meeting.

Hongjoong stood towards the front of the room, waiting for everyone to get adjusted. Yunho was on time for once. Mostly it was because he knew the climate of the situation and knew Hongjoong wasn’t in the best mood.

Hongjoong cleared his throat.

“First off, we should probably address the elephant in the room. Yeosang, Jongho, and Mingi. What you guys did today was really reckless. Not only did you go against orders, but you seriously could’ve done some real damage. Not to mention, all of you were injured,” their leader scolded.

They all sat in silence, looking down in shame. Even the ones who weren’t there felt ashamed for some reason.

Hongjoong sighed deeply.

“With that being said, I want to know what you found out.”

Everyone looked up in shock. Hesitant, the three culprits looked at each other to see who would answer. Yeosang stood up in his place.

“We found that uh- Sintress, is running or helping to run an operation that is assassinating certain people. We’re not sure who specifically or for what reason but there is an apparent list with the names of the people they want dead. The list was on a little phone looking device,” Yeosang explained.

“We saw the same thing on the villains at the movie theater. The same device exploded and left them decayed,” Wooyoung added.

“Which was the same state Donghae was in. What does that mean for him then?” San questioned.

“Well that probably means he wasn’t as innocent as we thought. We should probably check in with his wife now,” Joong suggested.

The team nodded.

“So you’re saying those devices left those villains decayed?” Huntra stepped forward.

“Yea. I don’t know how but they did,” Joong answered.

“Sintress has a similar power. She has what’s called death touch. Not her skin or anything but it can best be described as ‘black sand’ almost. She generates it and it can kill the person. It’s not the most pleasant power,” Huntra explained.

“She tried using the power on me. It almost worked too. If it wasn’t for my steel skin I would’ve been a goner,” Jongho added.

“So the devices somehow detonate and give off the same stuff. They’re obviously connected but I don’t know how it’s possible,” Joong questioned. 

The team all shrugged.

“While we were there, two criminals seemed to be joining her little op,” Yeosang continued.

“I followed those crooks into an alleyway. I was getting information out of them when some hooded figure killed them where they sat. He threw these dagger things. The daggers must’ve had something else to them because they killed them instantly. Right after he killed them, he threw that bomb and that was that,” Mingi said.

“Why would someone come and kill them if they had the devices? The same devices that killed the villains at the theater. They could’ve used those,” Jongho wondered.

“Maybe they weren’t activated yet or something. I feel like if we had one, we could study it and get a lot of answers from it,” said Joong.

“When I was chasing those villains, one of them dropped one and uh-” Mingi pulled out the device and threw it out the table they sat around.

“You got one!” Yunho shot up out of his seat and began to analyze the device. The team all chuckled, things were feeling less tense.

“Don’t get too excited. We have no idea how these devices work. Who knows if we can hack this thing,” Joong said cynically.

Yunho sat back down in his seat.

“Anything else?” Hongjoong scanned the room.

“What happened to that guy at the theater? You know, the one the villains were trying to kidnap?” Jongho caught Joongs attention.

“He was escorted to the hospital. Eden took him actually,” Hongjoong stated, pointing to Eden in the corner.

Eden smiled dorkishly and waved at everyone. The team all chuckled.

“Alright, we’re gonna need to split up. I know that’s probably not the best idea right now but if we split we’ll get it done faster. Plus, these are just intel missions for the most part,” Hongjoong instructed.

Everyone sat up, awaiting their orders.

“Yeosang and Seonghwa will stay here and try to hack that device somehow. It could answer a lot of questions.”

Seonghwa and Yeosang nodded.

“Mingi, Jongho, and Yunho will go to that alleyway. You guys look for one of those daggers and anything else. You could also see if there’s anything with that fire we could look at. Also look around the West building or- what’s left of it anyway,” Joong instructed.

The three nodded.

“I’m going with,” insisted Huntra. “I don’t want any surprise visits from my sister again. That place had to have been the base of operations for some reason. Seems too random to be nothing,” she continued.

Joong nodded in agreement.

“And lastly, Me, Eden, San, and Wooyoung will be visiting Donghae’s wife. I don’t want to be rude because she could still be grieving but we need answers before this gets out of hand,” Hongjoong stated.

“We’ll do this all tomorrow. Everyone get rested and prepared.”

The team all stood up and left. 

They all went to their rooms to get rest. Hongjoong went to the living area and sat on the couch. He covered his face with his palms and grunted as if he was in pain. 

“You okay?” She sat on the couch directly across from him.

He sat in silence for a second. “Yea I’m alright. I just hope I’m doing this leader thing right,” he said, finally breaking the silence. 

“It’s stressful. I remember being the leader,” Huntra said looking off into the distance as if her past was playing right in front of her.

“Yea, everyone knew who you girls were. You were successful. Why did you disband?”

She sighed heavily. “We all wanted a break from the superhero thing. We saw all the rookie heroes coming in and how successful they were so we just decided it was time to retire. Of course, I didn’t really stay retired that long as you can tell. I just always found myself coming back to it,” explained Huntra.

Joong looked down with a sad expression.

“And yes, we are still friends,” she added.

Joong looked up and smiled softly.

“Well, I think I’m gonna head out. I’ll be back in the morning,” she said standing up.

“Thanks for your help,” Hongjoong said, standing up to shake her hand.

She nodded with a smile. She grabbed her belt area then looked around frantically.

“What’s wrong?”

She kept looking around. “My weapon. I must’ve left it in the meeting room. I’ll go get it real quick,” she said, running towards the meeting room.

She walked into the room to see Eden in the room by himself. The room was dark with specs of light shining through the windows from street lamps. The lighting of the room made Eden look scary almost.

Huntra had chills run down her spine.

“What are you doing here?” Eden looked at her and smiled.

“I came here for my weapon. Have you seen it?” 

He pointed to another desk off to the side where her weapon lay.

“Thanks. What are you doing in here? You’re kind giving me the creeps just sitting here in the dark,” Huntra said, still looking at him with unease.

“Sorry I was just looking at the device. It’s wired the same way as military technology so I was seeing if I could do anything with it,” he explained.

She nodded hesitantly. “Right.”

Suddenly, the device erupted. The same black sand substance came from the device. 

**‘The Death Touch’** thought Huntra.

It swirled around frantically then in a second went straight for Huntra. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please give feedback I want to know what everyone thinks.


	6. The End of the Beginning Part 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things heat up when identities are revealed and secrets are discovered. No one can be trusted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment and give me some feedback. I'd love to know how you guys feel about it.

The deadly substance zoomed around Huntra. It nipped and snapped at her skin. She tried swatting it away as if it were a bunch of bugs but it didn’t help. 

She grabbed a capsule from her belt and quickly flung it open. The small container began to suck in the lethal substance. It all went into the capsule and it automatically shut. She was left standing there, breathing heavily as if she just ran a marathon. She looked at Eden who was looking at her with wide eyes. 

“I’m sorry, I must’ve triggered it somehow. I-” he looked around in fear and guilt. Just then, Hongjoong and Seonghwa ran in frantically.

“What was that!? Is everyone okay?” Hongjoong scanned the dark room.

“I almost just died. That’s what that was,” Huntra finally said.

“Hongjoong, please. It was an accident. I was looking at the device to see if I could figure it out and it went off. It went for her, I don’t know how or why. Please believe me,” Eden cried.

Hongjoong looked back and forth at Huntra and Eden.

“How did you survive that? It only takes a few seconds to consume a person,” Eden questioned, guilt laced in his voice.

“Accelerated healing. An ability of mine,” she answered angrily.

The room was filled with an awkward silence.

“I’m sure it was an accident, Huntra. Let’s move past this,” Joong calmly stated, slowly walking towards her.

She sighed deeply and looked back at Joong. “You’re right. I can mo-” she stopped and looked at Eden. He looked at her with a concerned face. 

“Huntra?” Seonghwa watched her face as she progressively looked more and more intensely at Eden.

“I need to go,” she grabbed her weapon and walked out quickly. 

“Huntra wait!” Seonghwa ran after her. Joong walked over to Eden to examine the situation.

Huntra walked out the doors and headed for her bike. Seonghwa was jogging lightly behind her. “Huntra! Huntra, wait!” She kept walking.

“Hyolyn!” She finally stopped. He made a ‘why did I say that’ face. He could tell that being called by her actual name wasn’t something she liked that well. She slowly turned to face him.

“Please just come back in. I’m sure it was an accident,” he assured. They stood there quietly for what seemed like forever.

“I’m not coming back in,” she stated firmly. “But as a friend, I’m gonna tell you that you shouldn’t trust everyone. Especially people you think you can trust the most,” she added.

“I’m your friend?” He looked at her with confusion. She was quiet for a second. 

“I thought you were,” she said, finally walking away. He stood there and watched her ride her bike away. Right on que, a loud crack of thunder hit the sky. It began to rain mercilessly. 

Meanwhile, Joong and Eden still talked inside. Mingi and Wooyoung sat outside the meeting room, eavesdropping on their conversation. Jongho, San, and Yunho slept through the whole interaction. 

Yeosang walked out to get Seonghwa. He grabbed him by his shoulders and softly guided him back into base. Seonghwa looked back towards the city. Their base sat on top of a mountain that overlooked their section of Seoul. There were a ton of superheroes that all had different sections of the city and some in other cities. 

They entered the building and Yeosang grabbed a towel for Seonghwa who looked like he just went for a late night swim in his night clothes. He looked at Mingi and Wooyoung and whistled. They jumped in exaggeration and fell to the ground. 

“Stop eavesdropping. You guys want to be helpful, go to sleep,” Yeosang snapped. The two looked down to the ground shamefully and walked slowly back to their rooms. 

He sat down next to Seonghwa and sighed deeply. “Are you um- okay?” 

Seonghwa looked at Yeosang then chuckled a bit. Yeosang looked at him with confusion.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No. It’s just weird to hear you ask that,” Seonghwa said, wiping a tear from his cheek. The room filled with quiet, only the sound of buzzing machines and running kitchen appliances were faintly audible. Seonghwa sighed deeply, catching Yeosang’s attention.

Seonghwa glanced at Yeosang, whose helmet was still being worn proudly. He looked at his reflection in the visor of the helmet.

“Why don’t you take your helmet off?” Yeosang was caught off guard by his question.

“Uh- I um- I-” Yeosang stuttered. Seonghwa smiled sweetly.

“Are you afraid of something?” Another off putting question. Yeosang looked at the ground. He sat there quietly, disregarding Hwa’s query. Suddenly, Seonghwa slowly reached for his helmet with both hands. Yeosang jumped softly and looked at Hwa.

“What are you doing?” He watched Seonghwa like a hawk.

“Just trust me.” 

Seonghwa slowly removed his helmet. He saw one feature at a time. First his lips, then his small nose, then it was fully off. His hair softly fell down, covering his eyes. He looked up at Hwa and gave a sort of nervous look.

His eyes were a beautiful brown. With his cybernetics, they somehow made his eyes look glassy. Lines in his eyes turned like a dial, showing where the cyber part came in. On his face were a few symbols. They glowed a light blue but were small.

“What are these?” Hwa pointed at them.

“They’re part of my cybernetics. They’re some ancient writings that are particular to cyborgs. It’s some weird thing from ancient times,” answered Yeosang nervously. 

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you become a cyborg?” Seonghwa looked into his eyes, waiting for an answer.

  
  


Yeosang looked down and sighed heavily.

“Some of my cybernetics were given to me over the years but I was born a cyborg,” Sangie answered.

Seonghwa looked puzzled. “Wait, you were born a cyborg? How is that even possible?” 

Yeosang sat up straight.

“I don’t know much honestly, but here’s what I do know: You can be born a cyborg or you can become one. Those who become cyborgs, look more machine than human. They’ll usually have visible cybernetics like a metal limb or a half metal face. Those who are born a cyborg don’t actually look cybernetic. They’ll look human besides one feature. Mine are my eyes and the small markings on my face. I scored big time with my feature. You can’t tell I’m cybernetic unless you actually studied my face.”

Seonghwa chuckled softly.

“Some have really noticeable features like hair, or hands. One even had a cyber butt.” Seonghwa looked at Yeosang with a disgusted face.

“Don’t ask. Anyways, the features don’t look super cybernetic but you can tell they’re different. Now, We’re born cyborgs but not as you think. There’s a myth that a village back then was being threatened by a big army. They went to the top of a mountain and asked if there were any higher powers that could aid them. Like give them strength or speed or even a good army. Instead, the goddess interlaced their blood with a technology. A heavenly technology. It gave them better physical abilities like agility and stuff but the strongest power of all was intelligence. They used their minds to defeat the enemy. The Goddess then made them her people and they lived by her standards.”

Seonghwa looked at Yeosang with a childlike wonder in his eyes. Yeosang chuckled at the sight.

“So you're not actually a cyborg?” Seonghwa tilted his head like a confused puppy.

“No I am. Just not in the way that everyone thinks. My bloods interlaced with technology. Half of my heart is an endless power source. My brain is like a whole other internet,” explained Yeosang.

“Wait, so you're a god then?”

“No. Just given a gift from them. It is just a myth but it’s the only story we’ve been told,” Yeosang added.

“So do you actually have detachable limbs or rocket arms?” Yeosang chuckled at his question.

“No. All of my equipment is tech I made. My arm bracelet…” he pressed a button that detached the bracelet from his arm, “it’s just a tool.” Seonghwa watched in fascination. 

“I do have this,” the palm of his hand began to glow blue. It slowly consumed his whole hand till it was all glowing. Seonghwa went in to touch it.

“Don’t!” Seonghwa jumped back. “It’ll burn you. It’s a sort of plasma laser that is actually a part of me. An energy. Like Hongjoong power. I can shoot it. I haven’t used it because it’s dangerous,” Yeosang said.

“Imagine all the villains you’d take out with this. You should use it!” Seonghwa exclaimed.

“It would kill them,” Yeosang said bluntly. Seonghwa shrugged, still looking at his hand. 

“Wait, I just realized you said that your heart is an endless power source,” Seonghwa said suddenly.

“Half of it,” Yeosang clarified.

“So why do you charge then?” Seonghwa asked.

“I- I don’t know. For fun I guess.” Seonghwa looked at him dumbfounded.

“You sit there and charge yourself  _ for fun _ ?” Yeosang chuckled.

“Well it definitely feels good. And also it does actually help me heal quicker,” Yeosang explained.

Seonghwa looked at him with subtle annoyance.

“You are such a jerk! Making us think that you need to charge. You realize we’ve literally talked about how bad we feel that you have to sit there for so long to ‘charge’,” Seonghwa chuckled, punching Yeosang in the arm. Yeosang laughed back.

“Yea I heard it all.”

The two continued to laugh. As it died down, Seonghwa’s face returned back to it’s sad state. 

“I don’t know what to do. Do I trust someone I barely know but have connected with or someone I’ve known for a long time? That sounds like there’s an obvious answer to that but something seems… off,” Hwa questioned.

Yeosang sat there silently. Hongjoong walked out of the meeting room with Eden following.

“Let’s get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow,” Joong said. Seonghwa and Yeosang nodded with obedience. Both stood up silently and walked to their rooms. 

\---------------------

Everyone was suited up. Even Yeosang and Seonghwa were suited up which confused Yunho considering their mission was to stay at base and look at the device but Yeosang told him to roll with it.

Hongjoong went over the objectives one more time and sent everyone their different ways. Mingi and Jongho jumped into a team jeep while Yunho used his speed and ran alongside them. Joong, San, Wooyoung, and Eden used a portal created by an orb that Yeosang created. Seonghwa and Yeosang watched them leave. 

After everyone had left they both immediately went to an operating table where the device sat. Yeosang used his helmet scanner to scan the device. A synopsis popped up onto the giant screen tv that sat perfectly on the wall ahead of them. It showed internal systematics, materials, etc. Seonghwa studied the screen while Yeosang began to play with the device. 

“Do you think we're gonna be able to access this device? I mean it self destructed when it released that stuff on those villains at the theater. So why did it not self-destruct when it went off on Huntra last night?” Seonghwa turned back to Yeosang for an answer.

Yeosang continued to play with the device. “It must have something to do with the fact that it wasn’t activated yet,” he answered, still playing with the device intently. 

An hour past and still no luck. Yeosang had gotten into the device's deep system programs but couldn’t get past a firewall system that made it hard to hack any further. Seonghwa had taken the scanned image and was now studying it on a computer screen.

After what seemed like forever, Seonghwa noticed something on the side of the device. A very unnoticeable button. It was really tiny and green. 

“Yeosang, there’s a button. The side, towards the bottom. It’s really small and green. It’s under the first layer case but there’s a small hole that shows it.”

Yeosang looked at the spot he was directed too. 

“How did I miss that,” Yeosang said frustratingly. He grabbed a small pin and used it to get into the access hole and press the button. He heard it click and the device lit up. Yeosang jumped, dropping the device onto the operation table. Seonghwa walked over to him and they looked at the device. It began to bring up numbers and letters. Then it immediately went to a screen that asked for a four digit pin. 

Yeosang used his arm bracelet to project a screen into mid air. He touched the projected screen like a touch phone and began to press numbers frantically. Seonghwa looked at him in confusion.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m hacking it. It’s what I’ve been doing this whole time but now that the device is on it’ll be easier,” Yeosang said, typing numbers with what seemed like Yunho's super speed. 

A minute passed and Yeosang accessed the device. He jumped with joy. “Yes!” He exclaimed. 

The device brought up names, first and last. Next to the names were numbers. Yeosang and Seonghwa sat there quietly for what seemed like forever. Both of them looked at each other.

“I think this is-” Yeosang stopped.

“-a hitlist,” finished Seonghwa.

“So that means that… they’re killing people for money?” The both were mortified. There were people out there, who knew how many, killing for money. Who put out this list? Who was running it? So many questions filled their minds.

Seonghwa looked at the screen again.

“What does the ‘A/D’ mean?” Yeosang looked at the icon.

“Alive or dead,” he answered.

“So that must explain why those villains were taking that man alive at the theater instead of killing him on the spot,” Seonghwa concluded. 

The two sat in disbelief silently. Yeosang broke the silence with the sound of his leather in his suit running against the seat. He started scrolling on the screen. 

What he saw next made him and Seonghwa claspe their mouths.

\-------------

Jongho and Mingi studied the scorch marks on the ground of the alleyway. Yunho looked in the dumpster and in trash bags.

“Yunho, I’m almost sure there’s nothing in the trash bags,” Jongho said cynically.

Yunho looked at Jongho frustratingly. “You never know.”

Mingi’s hand sat on the burned concrete. 

“What’s wrong? Can you feel something?” Jongho looked at Mingi for an answer.

“It’s still hot.” 

Yunho walked over to them and looked at the markings. 

“Is that not normal?” 

Mingi looked at him with a worried face. “No”

Jongho looked around the alley way.

“It’s not normal. Even my scorch fire would have cooled down by now. Especially considering it rained last night. And is it just me or do you guys have the chills too? Not like the cold chills, like the creepy ones. Something just isn’t right,” Mingi said, looking around the alley way as if someone else was here.

Yunho began to walk towards the West building. Mingi and Jongho unconsciously followed him there. They walked past the caution tape and onto the pieces of broken wall on the floor. They looked around the wide area and couldn’t find anything. Yunho saw a couple blood stains that made him queasy but overall nothing alarming.

Jongho went over to one of the only things still standing: a giant mixing machine. Something used for the cement. He studied the mixer, walking around it. He went behind it and noticed something under a piece of debris. He picked it up with ease and tossed it. It was a scrape mark. A scrape mark made by the giant mixer. As if it were moved.

He walked back to the front with it and looked at it more. He then leaned against it and using his strength, pushed it. It was a lot harder than he thought but he prevailed. Yunho and Mingi hurried over. He clapped his hands together, dust flying off his hands into the air. Yunho slapped the air, pushing away the dust.

A wide opening with a staircase sat in front of them. Mingi’s eyes widened.

“Of course. A creepy staircase that goes down. I should’ve known,” Mingi exclaimed.

Jongho sighed then took a step down.

“Woah, woah, woah! We can’t go down there. We should wait for the rest of the team to even consider going down there,” Yunho scolded.

“We need to see what’s down here. And plus, I’ve learned from my mistakes. I know not to pursue anything without permission and back up. Trust me, as soon as anything crazy starts, we’re out of here. I promise,” Jongho assured.

Yunho hesitantly nodded. They began to walk down the stairs slowly. They reached the bottom after what seemed like forever and began to look around. It was dark, but not enough that they couldn’t see. 

Mingi’s feeling of fear was stronger than before. It was in everyone now. Something about this was very eerie. They walked down a few hallways till they reached a door. They heard something behind. A chanting. A humming. 

Mingi shook his head.

“I don’t like this. This is too freaky for me. I’m a superhero not a ghost hunter. We should go,” he whispered.

Jongho ignored his concern and opened the door quietly. He saw people. People in robes. 

“What kind of cult crap did we just walk into?” Yunho looked around in horror. They stood in a circle, each wearing a creepy mask.

Right in the middle of their circle stood a woman. It didn’t take long for Jongho to recognize who it was. Sintress. She chanted along.

They watched silently till a black smoke began to rise around Sintress. It created an outline of a man. He floated above her creepily. The robed people fell to their knees and were silent. Sintress smiled at the smokey figure.

“Well master… we have heroes interfering with our affairs. I didn’t think they’d be a problem till I saw their power. They have some hard hitters. Plus… My sister is working with them,” she said with a disgusted tone.

“It’s time you use the others. Make sure you take them out. It’s about time I come back,” the figure spoke.

“Wait you guys,” Mingi whispered suddenly, grabbing the attention of the other two.

“That fire outside. I think that was… hellfire.”

The two looked at each other in concern. 

“So you’re telling me that what we’re dealing with are some demons? I didn’t sign up for this,” Yunho protested quietly.

“Someones here,” the figure said. The three looked at the two speaking in horror. 

“There are others here.”

Sintress yelled at two of the robed people to go and look. Mingi grabbed the back of Mingi’s and Jongho’s head and sped out of there.

\-------------

Eden knocked on the door. The house was quiet. The apartment complex was quiet as well. Wooyoung whistled in the awkward silence. They stood by the door for a minute with no answer. Eden went to knock again but was stopped by it unlocking.

A woman answered the door. She looked to be in her mid fifties and wore little to no makeup. Her expression was as dull as her outfit.

“Can I help you?” She looked at everyone individually till someone answered.

“Hi Mrs. Choi… um, sorry to barge in but we need to ask some questions. We know you’re going through a hard time but this is very urgent.”

She stood there silently. She finally decided to open the door.

Wooyoung looked at San with a surprised look. “That was easier than I thought.” They walked in and sat down in her front room.

She walked into the kitchen and brought out a tray that had a teapot and a few cups. She sat down next across from them and put the tray on the table between them. 

“Help yourself,” she said in a monotone voice. Eden reached across the table and began to pour into all the cups.

“So, Mrs. Choi-”

“Just call me Jiae.”

Joong nodded hesitantly.

“Jiae, right. We have reason to believe that Donghae was involved somehow with some of the crimes we’ve come across,” Joong explained. Jiae looked at him in anger.

“What are you saying?! That he was a criminal?! How dare you!” She sat back in shock.

Hongjoong put his hands out trying to calm her down. 

“No I’m sorry, I promise- Listen, I don’t think he was a criminal I just think he has some involvement. He may not have been involved on purpose,” he explained frantically.

She sighed deeply. 

“He was acting different before…” she couldn’t finish the sentence. 

“I don’t know what came over him. He was distant. He began coming home really late and just acting weird,” she explained. 

Eden handed out the cups of tea and took a sip of his own. Hong Jong grabbed a cup and took a sip as well.

Suddenly, they heard a door shut. Joong looked around the corner towards the bedrooms. 

“Sorry, that’s my daughter. She’s an adult but she’s been staying with me since the incident,” she assured.

Joong nodded.

“Where was he going? Do you know where he was when he didn’t come home late?” Wooyoung smiled awkwardly. 

“Well…” She looked at them like she was waiting for something. Suddenly, a cup shattered. Joong dropped his tea. He then fell over onto the ground.

San looked at him and then saw Woo and Eden do the same. He looked at Jiae and saw her smirk. She looked at San and waited for him to do the same. 

“Why aren’t you unconscious? I put a lot of poisoning in that. Why aren’t you falling?!” She stood up in anger.

“So he was a criminal. You are too. Who are you guys?” He pulled out his sword.

“Hunters. But that’s none of your concern. If the tea won’t take you down… then I will,” she said, immediately grabbing a shotgun from the side of the couch.

San saw it and jumped over the counter to slice the gun. When he stopped he noticed she wasn’t moving. They both looked down and saw the sword stabbed through her. 

“No. No I didn’t mea-” she fell down to the ground with no pulse.

He fell to his knees. When he fell, purple energy came from out of him and went into the others. Joong immediately sat up and rubbed his eyes. 

“What just happened?”

They all looked up to see her daughter. She was on the verge of tears. She looked at San in the eyes and then ran out the door. Joong and Eden ran after her. 

They ran up flights of stairs. She pushed civilians out of the way, some falling down the stairs. Joong wanted to stop and help them but knew he needed to catch her. They got to the roof of the building and saw her running to jump onto another roof. Eden took a shortcut and got to the other roof first. 

He ran to her and tackled her down. She quickly got up and pulled out two daggers. Joong got to the other roof and stood behind Eden. Eden began to fight hand to hand with her. He got the daggers out of her hands and got her onto her knees. She looked up to him and sobbed.

“I’m sorry. Please, I can get it do-” A gun was fired. Eden held a gun to her chest, smoking.

She fell over.

Joong looked at her body in absolute terror. He looked up to Eden in disbelief. 

“Did you just… kill her?”

“I had to,” Eden said bluntly.

“No you didn’t!”

“Yes I did.”

He looked at Eden with a mix of disappointment and fear.

“Why?”

“Because she failed.”

Joong’s face turned into confusion. He looked at Eden for an answer.

“You’re with them. That’s why you tried to kill Huntra.”

“It took you a while to get it Joong. I wish you would’ve just left it. I really like you Joong. I trained you. You're like a son to me. But you just had to save the day,” Eden explained.

“Why? Why are you doing this?” Joong slowly walked backwards.

“You have no idea what it’s like to have no powers. What it’s like to have to use weapons to defend yourself. I can save people too. But nobody wants the guy with no powers. They want the strong superheroes who can fly or move mountains. I’ll show 'em.”

“You won’t get it by doing this,” Joong assured.

“I will if I do what he says.”

Joong looked even more confused.

“The dark one. The father of the underworld.”

“What…” Joong couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I know. It sounds insane. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me. It’s just a title. They won’t tell me his real name. But he is powerful.”

“So you’re selling your soul? For power? You’re a lot more of a coward then I thought.”

Eden began to boil. His anger grew and grew.

“I am not a coward! It looks like you don’t know me as well as you thought.”

Suddenly, Eden kicked Joong off the top of the building. Joong watched as Eden watched him fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't posted for like a few months because life has been really stressful but this quarentine has allowed me to catch up on this stuff. Again, leave a comment on what y'all think.


	7. End of the Beginning Part 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the surprise unveil of a mole amongst them, the team is thought to be left in shambles. But everyone has a backup plan and things start to heat up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave comments down below and tell me what you think, I´d love to hear it.

“We’ve got to get this information to Joong quick! It’s dangerous for them to be out there without knowing we’re all targets too,” Seonghwa stammered. Yeosang had communications for every member, trying to get in touch with at least someone. 

Nobody answered.

“Keep trying! They need to know!”

Yeosang called and sent distress signals as fast as he could. Part of him was actually worried for the team and the other half was trying to calm Seonghwa’s nerves. Seonghwa paced the room, trying everything he could to somehow connect with them telepathically.

Suddenly, someone finally picked up. 

Wooyoung.

“Wooyoung! Where are you guys right now?” Seonghwa sat there quietly waiting for an answer.

“I’m with San in the Choi residence. Turns out they weren’t as innocent as we thought. I don’t know where Eden and Joong are. They ran after their daughter and they still aren’t back,” Wooyoung answered calmly, voice muffled by the communication device quality.

“Listen Woo, you guys need to get out-” Seonghwa was cut off by a sudden boom through the call.

“Wooyoung?”

“Seonghwa, I don’t know what that was but it sounded really close. I need to go find out wh-” 

The line went dead. 

Their attention was quickly directed to the sound of a distant explosion. They ran outside to see a giant cloud of smoke near the city. Then another distant explosion occurred, this time on the west side of their part.

“Wasn’t that where Mingi, Jongho, and Yunho were?” 

Yeosang stared blankly at the chaotic image the city displayed. He saw helicopters and multiple other aircraft zooming across the sky. He heard very distant sirens ablazing. This seemed like a nightmare. Did the others die? The thought made him sick.

Seonghwa ran inside and began frantically typing on the keyboard. The news came on to the main screen ahead. A young woman talked frantically to the camera explaining everything she knew.

“Two explosions have taken place here in Seoul. The authorities are still searching for the cause of this but they do believe it’s connected. They also have reason to believe that villains are behind this. Other heroes are being called to assist…” She continued explaining. 

Her voice began to drown out by a ringing in Yeosangs ears. He stumbled backwards, losing his balance from the deafening sound. Seonghwas eyes didn’t leave the screen. 

Suddenly, a loud suction type sound drew their attention away from the news. They turned to see a giant portal in the middle of the room. Through the portal, they saw the image of a burning building. Eden walked through the portal and fell onto the lab floor. He had scratches and bruises everywhere. He even had a stab wound.

Yeosang ran to his side and helped him up. He guided him to a healing pod where he laid him down and turned on the pod. Seonghwa went to Eden and helped him adjust.

“What happened out there? Are the others okay? Where are they?” Seonghwa watched as Eden grunted in pain.

“Let’s wait till the pod heals all his wounds. It should only take 10 to 15 minutes,” Yeosang suggested.

Seonghwa didn’t move for a few seconds but eventually caved in. They walked into the main lobby and waited on the couch for Eden to come out.

After what seemed like an eternity, Eden walked out of the health lab and sat next to them on the couch. Seonghwa stood up frantically and looked to Eden for an answer. Eden sighed heavily.

“I ran after Donghae’s daughter when she started running. Hongjoong, San and Wooyoung stayed back in the apartment because they were still recovering from the poisoned tea. I got to the top of the building where a group of bounty hunters were waiting for me. They have a whole bunch of enhanced beings on their side. One of them had a bomb. I jumped off the building and landed in the dumpster in the alleyway. I was able to make it out but…” 

Seonghwa couldn’t think. His brain was overflowing with thoughts. He fell to his knees and put his hands over his face. Yeosang was emotionless. He looked at Eden with confusion.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could’ve stopped it,” Eden said solemnly. Yeosang stood up and began slowly walking towards the front doors.

He stopped in front of their welcome mat and stood there quietly.

“That’s weird,” Yeosang said suddenly.

Both Eden and Seonghwa looked at Yeosang with puzzled looks.

“What’s weird?”

“We called Wooyoung before the explosion,” Yeosang stated.

Eden stared blankly. He gulped very loud before saying anything.

“What d-did he say?”

“He said you AND Joong went after their daughter.”

Eden continued to stare at Yeosang blankly. “Huh, that is weird. I didn’t notice there was just so much going on. Surely you don’t think I was a part of it do you?”

Yeosang turned and faced the two.

“You know, If you would’ve asked me about 5 years ago if I fully trusted you, I would’ve said yes. But you just got sketchier and sketchier and I knew last night that there was definitely something up. So I just had to play it back a little…” Yeosang cleared his throat.

“We trained with you. The whole time we did, it was at YOUR base in the military. The specials unit. The one that deals with trainees wanting to be pro heroes. Obviously not for every agency but a lot of them do flow through your unit. Now I did a little background research and almost 65% of the hero agencies do their training programs through the specials unit. I studied that only 40% of the trainees actually end up passing that training stage and going to whatever agency they’re at. That’s 60% who don’t. Now tell me, where exactly does that 60% go?”

Eden looked at Yeosang with a mix of confusion and annoyance. “Well, they go home obviously. They weren’t capable of becoming heroes,” Eden answered.

“Hm, again, that is really weird. I did some more research and looked up all the trainees in the past 7 years that didn’t make it past the training stage…” 

“When did you do that?” Seonghwa looked at Yeosang for an answer.

“The 15 minutes we waited for Eden to heal.”

“But you didn’t move. You sat there like a statue for the whole 15 minutes,” Seonghwa exclaimed.

“Yea you remember I told you my brain was a whole other internet? Yea that’s how. Anyways, all those trainees were nowhere to be found. They never got jobs. They never went to college or anything. They just… disappeared. Some even showed up as dead. And what else is weird is that their families were gone as well. Now I don’t know about you but that just seems a bit weird. But that still isn’t much to go on. So I did a facial scan of the villains at the theater. I tried to find their background info but nothing came up so I looked to see if they had different identities before the ones they had now and weirdly enough…” Yeosang projected through his arm bracelet his findings into mid air. 

A picture of the Villainess from the theater was side by side with a picture of another girl. She wore a training outfit and the border of the picture was an outline of the Special units logo and official colors.

“I remember taking a picture like this when I was a trainee. We had to take these for an ID. The only difference is, I made it through the training program. She never did.” Yeosang looked at both Eden and Seonghwa.

Eden didn’t move. He sat there with his eyes wide open, not even blinking. 

“I thought I’d challenge myself some more and do some more research and look up the Choi’s because I thought ‘Why didn’t their family go off the grid?’ ‘Why did his family still have available records online?’ Turns out, Choi Donghae wasn’t a villain or a trainee at your base. He was a soldier. A soldier under what? The Specials Unit. You see how everything leads back to this Specials Unit? Oh, and another thing, his daughter? Yea she was a trainee. But not a trainee to be a pro hero, no. She was a trainee to be a soldier. She wanted to be like her dad. Now I don’t know about you but I think there’s something up with this unit in the military,” Yeosang smiled at Eden.

“I also got news that the man from the theater you were supposed to take to the hospital never showed up.”

Eden’s face went from blank to an evil smirk. He scoffed and began to clap his hands.

“Bravo. You are quite the hero. I always knew you’d be the one to beat me. Not even Hongjoong. You’d think he would be the one considering how close we were and how much I trained him more than you guys. But no. You were always a bit ahead of the others,” Eden stated blandly, standing up from where he sat.

“Well, I shouldn’t take all the credit. I did have some help.”

Suddenly, a pair of handcuffs clamped around Eden's hands, restraining him from behind. He turned to see Seonghwa and his telekinesis restraining him, his tears all dried and replaced with a surprising smile.

“You knew?!”

“I thought I’d take the advice of a pro hero,” Seonghwa stated happily.

Another portal opened and Huntra walked through.

Next to her was San, Wooyoung and Hongjoong.

“Why hello,” Huntra said with personality for once.

“Of course. A renowned detective and respected hero in this community. Huntra of former Sistar. I’d say I’m surprised but I’m not,” Eden said angrily.

“Well I knew something was up when you tried to kill me last night. You knew exactly how to control the device because it’s made of the military's tech. You were able to get it to target me because you knew I’d come back for my sword which you conveniently got me to leave behind. I knew you were behind it so I followed you guys to the apartment. That’s where I watched everything go down. Before Joong could hit the ground I teleported and saved him. Then I got the other two out before you pulled the order to blow up the place. You were kinda slow considering I was able to get all the residents out before you could blow it up as well.”

Eden angrily kicked the coffee table over.

“You’d think you’d have this more thought out considering your working for my sister,” Huntra snarked.

“I don’t work for her! We work together!”

“Well, you both suck. I was even able to go and save the other three from the trap you put them in. You knew they’d go to the west building- or what’s left of it anyways- and so you had my sister set a trap. But I was able to do what I do best… ruin her plans.”

Just then, Yunho sped through the door with Mingi and Jongho. Once stopped, Yunho put his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

“Hey. How’s it going?” Mingi smiled at the group. His face immediately changed when he looked at Eden.

“Oh. And you.”

Eden growled at Mingi.

“I’ll take him to barricade,” Huntra insisted.

“Ah, the famous prison for dangerous villains. But, is Eden really that dangerous?” Joong looked to Huntra for an answer.

“Let’s find out,” Eden answered.

Everyone looked at him. Suddenly, metal capsules shattered all the windows. Smoke was released from each one, filling the room quickly. Everyone fell to their knees, covering their mouths and gasping for air. Eden dropped the cuffs and put his hands up, mocking the boys for the fact that he got them off. He immediately put a mask over his face to block from the gas.

Through the already shattered glass, people in all black suits jumped through.

“Grab all of them,” Eden commanded. The soldiers all walked to each of the members. 

Before one could grab San he flipped over him and knocked him out with the butt of his sword. He knocked two other soldiers before looking at Eden.

“How?! Jiae’s poison didn’t even work on you!”

“It’s a part of the Grim Reaper. It isn’t affected by physical substance,” San stated blatantly.

“The Grim Reaper. You have no idea what power you hold San. To bad you’re too much of a pain to be of any assistance. We only need one Aura Spirit. Good thing there’s two of you. Kill him,” Eden demanded, pointing at San.

A group of soldiers all ran at him at once. San began to fight them off with ease. More and more guards poured out from the windows. They overwhelmed San as he began to fall to his knees.

Just then, his eyes started to glow a purple. Energy started frolicking around him. The soldiers all stopped in their tracks. The energy began to form into what looked like a mini aurora borealis (hence the name Aura spirit).

Then, all the energy hardened around him and created a transparent armor that formed a giant Grim Reaper. San’s body, unconscious, sat at the center of the spirit. The Grim Reaper took over. His katana now a scythe, he began swinging it around, throwing guards through the walls. Soldiers were flying left and right and dropping like flies.

Eden looked at San in horror.

“The Reaper’s taken over.”

He ran out the front door and for the helicopter that was waiting for him. Soldiers carried Hongjoong, Wooyoung, Yeosang, Jongho and Seonghwa, all unconscious, to the helicopter. Before they could take anyone else, San scattered them with force.

The guards all retreated. Eden jumped into the aircraft and yelled at the pilot to take off. The Grim Reaper walked out of the building and used an energy chain to grab the tail of the chopper. He pulled aggressively, swinging the aircraft left and right. Suddenly, he stopped. San’s eyes opened. He realized his members were in there. The Grim Reaper began to fight back. It tried to take full control of San’s power. San let out a deafening scream. His voice was masked by the low and chilling voice of the Grim Reaper. The energy around him softened, causing him to fall to the ground. The helicopter immediately sped off once free.

San was on the ground cold. Huntra walked out of the building with Mingi clinging to her shoulder. Yunho followed slowly behind.

“Did they take the others?” Mingi watched the chopper fly off into the distance.

“I think they did,” Huntra replied.

Yunho noticed San unconscious on the ground. He rushed to San’s side and checked for a pulse. Feeling one still there he sighed of relief.

“Did you guys notice the giant Grim Reaper in our living room while they were in and out of consciousness or was that just me?” Yunho looked to the two with worry while San laid in his arms.

“Was that San?” Huntra’s eyes had fear written all over them. The other two just nodded at her.

San’s eyelids began to open slowly. He groaned in pain.

“What happened? Where’s Eden?” San looked to Yunho with pain in his voice.

“He got away. He also took everyone but us,” Yunho answered. San looked up to see Mingi and Huntra standing in front of them.

“What happened to me? I remember fighting some of the soldiers and then everything went black.”

“I don’t really know,” Yunho answered. He scratched his head in frustration.

“It was your Aura Spirit. It took over. You have a special Aura Spirit. Your Aura Spirit is different from say an animal Aura Spirit. Your Aura Spirit is one of a mythological creature. It has a stronger connection to the host,” Huntra explained. 

“I’ve always known I could do that but it’s never happened before. Lot’s of other Aura’s are capable of that and they do it all the time but it didn’t feel right. It felt like it was taking control of me. I kept trying to take control but it was fighting me. I don’t understand. I’ve been discovering new things about my powers ever since this started,” San cried out.

“What other powers?” The three looked at San with worry.

“Well it all started when I went to another world almost. It looked like this but everything was colorless or purple. I saw Donghae there. It was when he was, well, dead.”

Huntra looked down, her face in thinking mode.

“Do you know something?” San had hope in his eyes.

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say that was, I don’t know, Limbo?”

“Limbo?” San was confused.

“Well the Grim Reaper is a messenger of death. That’s their dominion. Maybe that’s where you were. Limbo or purgatory. What was Donghe doing?” 

“He was just as confused as I was. He kept asking me what was going on and to help him. I don’t think he knew he was dead,” San explained.

“We need to go. I know someone who could possibly help you,” Huntra insisted.

“Who?”

“He’s an old friend of mine. He knows about this stuff. We should see him.”

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know. Last time I checked, China?”

“China?! How do you expect us to get to China?” San looked at her in disbelief.

“I think I know a way,” Yunho said softly. He pulled out two portal orbs. 

“I have these. There should be more inside as well,” Yunho explained.

“You're a genius!” Mingi exclaimed loudly.

Huntra turned to walk inside. Suddenly, their beloved base exploded right before their eyes. The force of the explosion caused the closest to the building, Mingi and Huntra, to catapult across the sky and land next to the edge of the cliff of their mountain. San and Yunho covered their faces. Huntra sat up slowly with a groan of pain. 

“Min- Mingi. Are you okay?” She looked at Mingi clutching his shoulder.

“My shoulder. I think it’s dislocated.” She helped him to sit up and put his back against her motorcycle.

“You guys okay,” She yelled to Yunho and San.

They turned to them and nodded slowly. Both very slowly, they walked over to Hunta and Mingi.

“Mingi? Where are you hurt?” San kneeled down and touched Mingi softly on the arm.

“His shoulder. It dislocated, probably from the fall,” she informed.

“I’ll be fine. Just pop it back into place and get me a sling. We need to save the rest of the team,” Mingi insisted.

Huntra grabbed his arm and quickly popped it back. Mingi wailed in pain.

“What was that? You could’ve at least warned him,” San exclaimed.

“It’s better to just get it over with quickly and not think about it,” Huntra said coldly.

“Now, for a game plan,” she started, grabbing his arm and rapping it in cloth, “We need to get you to my friend in China. We only have two teleportation orbs. Before you ask, no, I can’t just teleport us there. I’m a quick teleporter, I don’t use portals. I can only travel short distances. Hence why I am a level 4 teleporter. Anyways, we’ll use the orbs to get us there and back. We can’t take too long there because we’re running on a limit. When Eden attacked me last night, Yeosang contacted me. That’s sort of where we figured everything out and had a plan to expose him. That’s also where we discussed something else. When he was at the West building with Jongho and you, Mingi, you guys heard them talking about a girl they needed. Kwon Nayoung. Well it turns out, they don’t have her yet. Those new recruits Mingi watched die were supposed to take care of her. And I know where she is. We need to get her and that’ll spoil whatever plans they have for a little longer,” Huntra explained.

“So are we just gonna ignore that our base just… blew up?” Yunho looked at everyone in shock.

“I’m sorry about your base, I really am. But, we can’t worry about it now. We’ve got to get a move on. We don’t have much time before they raise the dark one,” Huntra exclaimed.

“Wait, the dark one?” San asked in confusion.

“Yea that’s their plan. They’re trying to bring back the lord of the underworld. He sort of represents the evil of those with powers. He was locked out of the world a very long time ago or something. I don’t know the whole story but it’s a tale I used to hear from my mother. I don’t know how my sister got involved, even though she’s always been evil. She was probably promised something. Which is why we’ve got to get a move on,” Huntra stated.

“Alright, alright. So first we get Nayoung. Then after we get to your friend and he will help me out. Then, we save the others. Sound like a plan?” San said, picking up his sword and sheathing it.

“How do we know they’re not gonna kill them?” Yunho paced around worryingly. 

“Because they need them and they need us. I don’t know what for but they need us,” Huntra insisted.

Yunho looked at her with worry then nodded.

“Everyone ready?” Huntra looked to everyone for confirmation. 

Everyone nodded.

“Good. Let’s go.”

\-------------

She strutted down the sidewalk with sass. She waved joyfully to her friends who sat in the backseat of a taxi driving off. Walking towards a building, she smiled at the strangers walking past her.

They watched her walk inside. 

“Let’s go inside now, before we lose her,” San insisted.

“Hey, not so fast speedy. We can’t just go in and follow her she’ll notice. I already know her apartment number, just wait,” Huntra said sassily.

San sat back grumpily and puffed loudly. They watched people walk past her apartment building. Minutes passed by like syrup falling from a bottle. 

Huntra noticed two men in suits walk into the building. She felt off about them. Something ticked her senses. She motioned at the others.

“Let’s go now. I think we have more company,” she informed. The others looked to see what she was seeing. They quickly got up and adjusted.

Huntra motioned to Yunho, telling him to scope it out. Huntra used red tinted shades to get an x-ray of the building. Yunho sped into the building and stopped on the floor they were on. He stood at the end of the hall and watched from behind a corner as the two suspicious men stopped at Nayoungs door.

Suddenly one of the men turned to look down the hallway. Yunho quickly popped back and hid behind the wall. He sat there for a solid minute before slowly moving to look around the corner again. He looked to see one guy face to face with him. Yunho jumped back while the man stared at him.

“Citizen was found watching us sloppily. I easily was able to sense citizen. Citizen is now a target. Target can’t get away. Target has seen too much,” the man said with a monotone voice. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark shades. 

Yunho watched the man with horror. The man pulled out a strange looking weapon. The shiniest silver he’d ever seen. It looked like a bulky hand gun. Yunho jumped in fear when the weapon began to glow red. 

Just then, the window down the hallway shattered and Huntra roll landed on the ground. She looked up and was in what Yunho called an “Epic Superhero Take Down” pose. She threw a small throwing knife that knocked the strange weapon out of the man's hand. Yunho looked to the man and speed kicked him to the ground.

Mingi ran up from the stairs with San right behind him. Both ran towards Nayoungs door. Other doors down the hallway began to swing open as residents heard the conflict. 

“Go back inside!” Huntra gave them a death glare. They slammed the doors in fear.

Mingi blew the other one away from her door with a small spark of fire that was strong enough to blast him away. San grabbed her door knob and jiggled it to open. It was locked. San then sighed heavily and used some of his energy to blow it off its hinges.

Nayoung sat in her kitchen with her earphones in, blasting music while she ate a sandwich. She jumped in fear at her door flying past her living room. San and her made eye contact and he gave a nervous smile. She let out a loud scream and ran towards her bedroom. 

“Alright, well. This isn’t going to be easy. Mingi,” San motioned at him to follow, “I hope we won’t have to kidnap her.” San and Mingi ran towards the bedroom. They opened the door and found her trying to get out her window. She turned and let out another scream.

“Will you stop that!” Mingi looked at her with annoyance.

She looked back confused at his reaction then just stared. Her confused face turned into shock.

“Oh my goodness! Your Mingi! And you! Your San! You guys are in Ateez!” She jumped with excitement. She then stopped and looked confused again.

“But why are you guys here? Is there something wrong?”

“Yes. There are mercenaries trying to get you. They’re working for some cult. It’s a lot less demonic than it sounds honestly. Anyways, we’re coming to save you from them, but you’ll need to stay with us till we can stop them,” San explained calmly.

“Which is how long?” She said, almost annoyed.

“Not that long. We’ll actually need to go there soon.”

“Okay but why me?” 

“Do you not know that you have powers?” Mingi looked at her in shock.

“Well, I know that I do but I’m not that good with them. I’m not that good with controlling them and it’s kinda scary,” she said, looking down at her hands.

“What are your powers?” Mingi asked.

“Well,” she turned to a plant and blasted it with a ray of white energy. It was so bright that San and Mingi both covered their eyes.

“Wow that’s bright,” Mingi said, blinking really fast and trying to recover.

They looked at the plant and saw it completely engulfed in flames. Mingi walked over and absorbed the fire from off the flower.

“I mean, that’s great. But what exactly would they want with you?” San looked at the charred flower.

“Maybe this,” she walked over to the flower. Mingi stepped back and watched her movement. The same white energy conveyed but didn’t shoot out. Instead, it consumed her hand, making it look like she had stuck her hand into heaven. She faced her palm towards the flower and stood there very still. The flower began to regain color. It’s petals began to slowly flow up. The flower was completely restored. She turned to the others and smiled awkwardly. 

“That’s probably why,” Mingi snarked.

“You're a healer. But not in the sense that a lot of them are. It’s more like you transfer energy,” San explained.

“So you’re like a mix between Hongjoong and a healer. Sick,” Mingi exclaimed.

“That must mean they could use your power to somehow manifest the dark one of whatever his name is,” San said worryingly.

“Well, we aren’t gonna let them take you,” Mingi stated firmly. 

Suddenly, Huntra came flying down the hallway, landing in front of her bedroom door. She looked up at the others and frowned.

“Let me know when you guys are done. It’s not like I could use the help or anything,” Huntra said angrily.

Yunho zoomed and stopped next to Huntra, helping her up.

“Let’s go to your friend. What’s the location?” San pulled out a portal orb and began to put in coordinates.

“Give me that,” Huntra commanded, grabbing the orb and putting information in.

The two nicely dressed villains stopped at the door. Huntra chucked the orb out the window and into the alleyway. It landed on the floor, exploding and creating a portal. One by one, everyone jumped out of the window and into the portal. Hunta threw bedroom objects at the villains to slow them down but they just dodged them. She then jumped and kicked them both, catapulting herself out the window and landing in the portal. 

The villains ran and jumped out the window to follow but the portal shut them out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to post this. I wanted it an opinion before I posted it. But here we are. Let me know what you guys think in the comments.


	8. The End of the Beginning Part 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> San must learn what exactly he is and what power he posses. While he tries to figure it out, other things come to the light. Ateez aren't any normal heroes. Everyone on the team are more important to this plan then they thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think. Also, read the notes at the end.

Huntra rolled across the wet cement. She finally stopped when she knocked down a bunch of tin garbage cans. 

“Ow.”

She looked up to see the others getting up slowly, some groaning in pain. Mingi massaged his arm with pain in his face. San brushed off his sword and helped Nayoung to her feet. Yunho looked around the area. They seemed to be in an alleyway. Cars were zooming in the distance. 

“Where are we?” Yunho scanned the area.

“Looks like Hong Kong. The coordinates I put in should mean we’re close to the marketplace,” Huntra explained.

She stood up and walked out to the street. It was quiet. A person here and there. The night was filled with street lights. She looked around for a sign. She read the street sign and realized where they were. She turned to the others.

“Alright, we’re close. Let’s start moving now,” she said, pulling her hair back.

“Why couldn’t we have just teleported to where your friend is?” Mingi questioned.

“Because the place is protected. We couldn’t get in with a portal orb if we tried,” Huntra answered.

“Where exactly are we going?” San walked over to Huntra along with the others.

“The Marketplace.”

“Could you be more specific? There are thousands of marketplaces,” San said sassily.

“Well there’s only one like this one. THE Marketplace. One not… available to the public so to say. A lot of people call it the Agora which is conveniently Greek for the marketplace,” Huntra explained.

“Why is the name Greek but it’s in Hong Kong?”

“I don’t know, for fun.”

San shrugged and followed as Huntra began to walk. They walked down the empty street, looking around cautiously. Huntra’s hand rested on her blade's handle. Nayoung pulled out her cell phone and tried to get a signal.

“What’s wrong with my phone? How is there no signal here?” She turned in circles with her phone in the air.

“We’re close to Agora,” Huntra answered.

“So this place couldn’t get better cell service. Is it underground or something?” 

“Well… it’s hard to explain.” 

San began walking beside Huntra.

“So what’s so special about this marketplace?”

Huntra looked at San and sighed deeply. “Well, this marketplace isn’t something you’d want to just stroll through. It’s not dangerous or anything but it isn’t exactly safe either. It’s a marketplace created by a Wizard for mystical beings. Which is why you guys need to be careful. Magic wielders and mythological beings don’t exactly like Superheroes and enhanced beings. Nobody really trusts them so governments have completely banned magic and everything related to it. So they naturally have a hatred for the enhanced,” Huntra explained.

“How do you get away with it? You're enhanced and you’ve clearly been here before. How do you get away with it?” San questioned.

“I have my ways. All of you just need to keep a low profile.”

“Wouldn’t Aura Spirits be classified as supernatural? I mean it’s a spirit so wouldn’t that be supernatural?” San asked cluelessly.

“I mean I see your point but Aura Spirits were just picked up by Enhanced. Not really sure how. But since your Aura is a Grim Reaper you’d fit in nicely if you weren’t a world famous hero,” Huntra explained.

She took them into a red lit alleyway. Rats scurried across the floor swiftly. Nayoung screeched and ran behind Yunho. Ignoring Nayoung, Huntra scanned the alleyway. She noticed a sewage drain glowing on the floor.

“Found it. Now, one last thing. Don’t interact with anyone. Only me and San can go in to see my friend. The rest of you stay outside the booth and stay out of trouble. There is a large diverse assortment of… people, in this place. Some are a lot more dangerous than you think. So please. Stay out of trouble. Understand?” 

They all nodded.

She sighed deeply then turned to the drain. She closed her eyes and began to chant. Nobody could understand what she said. She then bent down and lifted the circular door and tossed it with ease. It was pitch black inside. She gave another sigh and jumped in. She was completely gone when light began to shoot out of the drain. The others jumped back and looked in hesitantly when it stopped.

“Go,” Mingi instructed San. He looked back with annoyance then jumped in. The rest followed.

Lights flashed in their eyes. An array of colors zoomed around them, making them dizzy. It felt like a long roller coaster. A loud sound hit their ears like a bomb. They couldn’t tell what was happening. It seems like they were falling for eternity. Finally, things seemed to stabilize. They all lay on a cold hard ground. The air around them was cold. 

Huntra looked up slowly. Not too far ahead was a light. She turned to the others to see them groaning in pain.

“I’ve had enough of the falling,” Yunho exclaimed. He stretched out, massaging the parts of the body that he hurt.

“What is this place?” Nayoung stood up and began to fix her hair.

“Aren’t we supposed to be at the Marketplace? This doesn’t look much like a place to buy things unless we're trading with some rats,” Mingi snarked.

“Over there,” Huntra pointed. 

At the end of what seemed like a tunnel was a door. They all collectively walked towards it. They finally reached the door and opened it. 

Through the door was a large strip of booths. There were shops for so many different things. A potion shop, pet shop, weapons shop, blood shop (a big vampire attraction), even a mystical tattoo parlor. They all walked around with their eyes widened. Nayoung held onto Yunhos' arm tightly. 

The place was huge. It seemed like there was a sky above them but there was just a large gap between them and the ground from above. Huntra explained that it was another dimension yet in the same world. Then she said it was hard to explain and to stop asking.

Everyone seemed so… dead. Full of boredom and pessimism. Some people gave them dirty looks and flashed their weapons. Mingi smiled awkwardly and picked up the pace. They took a couple of turns till finally they stopped in a darker area. The people there seemed really sketchy. San noticed people exchanging what looked like potion bottles in the alleyway.

Huntra stood right in front of the only building with color. In fact it had so much color it made up for all the bland grey buildings and tents next to it. She walked up to the small fort and knocked on the door. A man opened the door. He wore an assortment of clothes as colorful as the small building. 

“Huntra! What a surprise darling, what brings you here?” He caught her by surprise with a bear hug. She chuckled nervously and patted his back awkwardly.

“Hey Ji. I need to see Vita. Is she here?” Huntra asked coldly.

“Aw, it’s always business with you. No time to catch up then sweetheart?” He gave her a sly grin.

“No, sorry Ji. It’s urgent.”

“Well she’s with a client right now but I’ll let her know you're here. Come in and make yourself comfortable.” He motioned for her to come in.

She turned to San and motioned for him. He looked at San and gave the same sly grin.

“And who is this?” He looked him up and down like a delicious meal he was about to chomp down.

“My friend, San. San, this is Ji,” Huntra introduced.

San and Ji shook hands. Ji’s grin faded away once he made contact with San.

“You brought an Aura Spirit!? What are you thinking bringing one of them down here?” He backed away slowly.

“Ji, Vita knows how to deal with his power. We just need her help and they’ll be out of here before you know it,” Huntra explained frantically.

“I knew something was up. I got a weird vibe when I saw you. And I suppose the others that came with you are…” Ji peeked out the window, “wait a minute. Those are enhanced. So not only did you bring an Aura but you brought a group of enhanced. It’s bad enough people allow you down here imagine what they’ll do when they see this.”

“Ji I promise we won’t be long.”

Suddenly, a woman walked out from behind a drape. She was older but very fit. Her clothing was not as colorful as the building. She wore lots of gold jewelry. Her sleek black hair was put on in a ponytail. She was noticeably starting to age but her beauty outshined it all. Another girl came out and walked straight out the door. The woman looked at Huntra and smiled. 

“Hyolyn. What can I do for you?” 

“Vita, hey. I need your help with my friend here,” Huntra walked foward.

“Help an Aura Spirit? I suppose. I was thinking you’d had to convince me but he’s kinda hot. Right this way,” she walked back behind the drape. 

San followed her in. Huntra turned to Ji before entering.

“Ji I promise they won’t be here long. Just be calm okay?”

“Of course darling. I was overreacting,” Ji said with the same grin.

Huntra grinned back and walked into the room. Huntra scanned the room. It looked the same from last time she was there. Colorful cloth was draped across the room nicely. Candles were lit everywhere. Lots of candles. On the ground was a colorful carpet with matching pillows and a golden bowl in the center with other tools lying around it. Vita sat down neatly on the pillow and brushed herself off. 

“What are you exactly?” San looked to her for an answer.

“I’m a Witch.”

“Wow,” San said, eyes widened.

“Sit.” She smiled and watched as San sat down awkwardly on the pillow across from her. She looked to Huntra and waited for her to follow.

“It’s okay. I’ll just stand,” Huntra insisted.

“Suit yourself. Now, what’s the problem?” She looked to the two for an answer.

“Well, my Aura Spirit is kinda out of control. I’m starting to experience really weird things and getting new powers,” San explained.

“Elaborate.”

“Well random times throughout these past few weeks I’ve been almost transporting to another realm. I’ve been seeing dead people and to top it off, my spirit almost completely took over yesterday when it magnified. I can’t control it.”

“That’s Limbo. That ‘realm’ you speak of is Limbo. That’s where the Grim Reaper is to take the dead to their respected places when they’re supposed to go. But I don’t see how an Aura Spirit would have access to it considering you’re not a real Reaper,” Vita explained.

“Well that’s what I’m here to find out,” San said forcefully.

“You haven’t been using your powers long. I can tell. You’ve always been afraid of them. Of it,” Vita said intensely. 

“It?” San looked at Vita confused.

“Aura Spirits can be confusing. People who have them usually think it’s just a form of power they have like an enhancement. But they’re not. It’s an actual spirit. It’s called a spirit for a reason. I’m guessing yours is a lot more powerful than you think. It’s different for you because your spirit is one of a mythological creature. Channeling one isn’t like channeling an animal. You’d have to channel an actual Grim Reaper. That’s going to leave you with the repercussions of being a Grim Reaper,” Vita explained.

“Well, is there a way to control it?” San looked at her with worry.

“A spirit as strong as yours takes time to control. It would be better if you were using your full power for a while. That would help you. But you’ve been so scared of it you barely do anything with it.”

“We don’t have time. I need a way now,” San demanded.

“Well that’s how. I could try communicating with it if you're willing to… let go, for a sec,” Vita suggested.

“I don’t know that sounds dangerous-” Huntra tried to intervene but was cut off by San.

“I’ll do it,” he looked at Huntra, “It’s okay. We need to save the others.”

Huntra nodded hesitantly. 

“Alright. Hyolyn you’re going to be an anchor to San. Grab his hand and wrap this ribbon around your hands. Whatever happens, don’t let go. Understood?”

The two nodded. Vita leaned over and tied the ribbon around. She then dipped her hands in a small bowl of a red liquid and put a few drops over the cloth that tied their hands together.

“Is that… blood?” San looked with disgust.

“Pig’s blood, yes,” Vita answered coldly.

The two looked at her in horror.

“Blood represents humanity. It’ll strengthen the connection to your bodies. Just be lucky this doesn’t specifically call for your own blood,” Vita snapped.

“Now, close your eyes. You need to start channeling. Don’t hold back. No hesitation. You need to channel with everything you have. Let your Aura unleash. Let it flow. Allow the spirit to emerge. Access it,” Vita intructed.

Purple energy began to swirl around the two. Huntra watched the energy frolic around them. She squeezed San’s hand tightly and thought about the connection. San squeezed back. She wanted to do whatever she could to make sure San doesn’t get lost. She thought if thinking about their hands and them touching that it would help to keep him anchored. 

The energy got brighter. San’s squeeze on Huntra’s hand weakened. She knew that the spirit was taking over. She squeezed even harder. 

The energy began to take the shape of something. Suddenly, all the candles all went out. The room was lit by San’s energy. Vita looked up to see the energy in the form of the Grim Reaper. He stood there, towering over Vita.

“Reaper. Are you in control?” Vita looked up to it’s hidden face.

“Yes,” the spirit’s voice was deep and loud. It echoed in the room.

“Spirit, why do you battle for control of San’s body. Aura Spirits work with their hosts. They become one. But you are fighting for control. Why?”

“Host body does not take up his duties. I am a messenger of death. A servant of the afterlife. Host body does not do what he is supposed to.”

“But spirit, you’re not an actual Grim Reaper. Only a form and representation of one. Why would he need to take up those responsibilities if he isn’t an actual Reaper?”

“See that’s where you're wrong. You ever wonder why there is only one kind of Aura Spirit. Only one Wolf Spirit. One Lion Spirit. One Grim Reaper Spirit. Only one of any Spirit. We’re not forms of them. We’re the originals. We’re what the real world ones take after. I am the original Grim Reaper. The first Messenger.”

Vita’s heart began to race. Everything everyone knew about Aura Spirits was a lie.

“But-”

“No but’s human. You wanted answers, I’m giving them to you. I command the Grim Reapers. I am their king. Host body has a greater responsibility than you know.”

“Are you bad or good?”

“I am neither. I am a harbinger. I guide those who need to be guided to their proper places. I sometimes must kill as well.”

“Do you know when a person is going to die?”

“No. That is not a part of my responsibility. That belongs to another messenger of death. One I think you know very well. A Banshee.”

Vita gasped. 

“Did I strike a nerve human?”

“How do you know about my daughter?!”

“I know the Banshee. We’ve crossed paths multiple times. She’s a pro hero. One In Korea.”

“Where? I need to know where she is, please!”

“That’s not for me to tell. Now are you done wasting my time?”

Vita stood and begged for an answer.

“Quit begging human!”

Vita fell back in fear. After a moment she stood and began to chant in a different language. 

“You can’t expel me from this body. As you said, we are one. I’m just the one in control.”

Vita stopped chanting and fell to her knees. She began to weep.

“This host body must serve his purpose. Anyone who tries to disturb that will have to pay the price,” the Reaper informed.

Everything around them began to shake. An enormous gust of wind started to blow everything around. Paper and cloth circled the room frantically. 

Huntra looked at Vita. “How do I bring him back?!” She screamed over the loud wind.

“Say ‘Veni Domum’! Keep saying it till he’s back! Bring him back!” Vita suddenly flew back to the wall. 

“Veni Domum! Veni Domum! Veni Domum!” Huntra continued to chant. She squeezed San’s hand tight.

Just then, San let out a scream. It was masked by the voice of the Reaper but soon turned back into San’s voice. The energy disappeared. Everything fell to the floor. Vita sobbed loudly. Huntra grabbed San by his shoulders and shook him violently.

“San! San are you okay?!” She continued to shake him.

San’s eyes opened.

“I’m okay. What happened?” He sat up and rubbed his head.

Huntra explained everything to him. He covered his face in shame.

“Do you know how to control this thing?” Huntra looked at Vita with anger.

“No.” Vita wiped her tears.

“I knew it. You’ve always been unreliable. We’ve wasted time coming here,” Huntra said, helping San up.

“No wait! I couldn’t help you now but I know somebody who can,” Vita said frantically.

“We don’t have time for that,” Huntra exclaimed.

“You can’t use your powers till this is over then. But afterwards, you can go to him and he’ll help you. But I need something in return.”

“Of course you need something.”

“Please. Just this one thing. I need you to find my daughter. I need you to tell her to find me. Please,” pleaded Vita.

Huntra nodded hesitantly.

“One more thing, Huntra. We must speak alone.” Huntra motioned for San to head out.

San walked out of the room. Suddenly, he heard gunshots.

\---------------

Mingi, Yunho and Nayoung waited outside the small house. Sketchy people walked past the house, giving them dirty looks. Yunho just smiled and nodded at every person. Nayoung held her phone into the air, still looking for a signal.

“How long do you think this is gonna take?” Mingi asked.

“I don’t know, let's just be patient,” Yunho answered.

Nayoung sighed deeply with an eye roll. 

“Listen, I was supposed to go on a date tonight. Do you think this’ll all be over before then?” Nayoung snarked.

“You should probably cancel. You’re not gonna be back for a bit,” Yunho said with annoyance in his voice.

“Well I can’t because this place has horrible cell service,” Nayoung said angrily.

Yunho sighed deeply but ignored her snarky comment.

“I hope this ends soon, who knows what’s happening to the others. I really hope Eden isn’t hurting them,” Mingi stated worryingly.

“I’m gonna go look around. You guys stay here,” Yunho instructed.

“Huntra told us to stay here. We shouldn’t leave,” Mingi informed Yunho.

“I’ll make sure I’m anonymous. I need you to stay here though, okay?” Yunho gave Mingi a serious look.

“Fine. Be quick though,” Mingi said intensely.

Yunho nodded then walked away. He went down an alleyway. He hid his face by putting an oversized hoodie he had on hand. After a few turns he decided to look inside a small shop. A shop of gold. Gold streamers hung from the ceiling. The walls were covered with golden accents and symbols. Golden jewelry and kitchen ware lay across the tables in the shop. Lamps of gold dangled from the ceiling, lighting up the room. A woman stood behind a counter, fixing some jewelry. She looked up at Yunho and smiled.

“Hello handsome. What can I do for you?” She stated, twirling her hair.

“Nothing I’m just looking around,” Yunho said, giving her a slight smile.

“Yunho, is it?”

Yunho made eye contact with the strange woman.

“Don’t be scared. This is what I do. You know things like that when you’re a seer. I also know what you are. A Hero,” she stated.

“Please don’t do anything harsh. I’ll only be here for a little bit then I’m out, I promise,” pleaded Yunho.

“Oh calm down, I don’t hate Heroes. I don’t really care about the magic ban there’s not much I can do. My power isn’t that dangerous and it could easily pass as a hero power. Any magic could really, if it wasn’t for those ridiculous detectors everywhere. Plus the whole test you have to go through before becoming a trainee…”

Yunho cut her off. “Sorry I should probably head out. I need to get back to my friends.”

“Wait. You’re looking for something. Why don’t we make that small trip worthwhile. I can give you a reading,” the woman insisted.

“No, I should probably-”

“It’ll be free of charge. On the house. First time’s free,” the woman continued.

Yunho stuttered.

“Alright. Let’s do this,” Yunho said hesitantly.

She smiled brightly.

“Follow me.” She walked into a back room covered by drapes.

Yunho followed behind slowly, scanning the whole room before completely entering.

She sat at a table covered in everything… gold. She motioned for him to sit down on the seat across from him. Yunho sat down hesitantly. The seat was uncomfortable and Yunho thinks he sat down right onto a wood shard. A butt splinter. He sighed deeply and ignored it.

“Give your hand,” the woman commanded.

Yunho obediently gave her his hand. She touched along the lines on his hands and ran her fingers on his veins. Yunho felt uncomfortable but let it happen anyways. The lady dipped her fingers into a small bowl of oil and oiled up Yunho’s hand, making him even more uncomfortable. The lady then put two candles onto the table and lit them.

“Are you trying to light my hand on fire?” Yunho looked at her with skepticism. 

“Just trust me,” she stated firmly.

The candles sat on both sides of his hands. They sat there silently for what seemed like forever till the flames began to flicker. Suddenly, they slowly began to drift towards his hand. The flames then consumed his hand. Yunho flinched but didn’t stop it. It was mesmerizing almost. The flames glistened and were almost gold. As gold as the room. His attention was then grabbed by the woman's voice.

“Hold your palm out,” she said.

Yunho held his palm out and watched as the fire all made its way towards his palm. It looked like he was holding a fireball in his hand. Mingi would probably say something extremely typical of him like “Hey! That’s my power” then laugh.

The flames began to create images. It wasn’t recognizable to him but the lady seemed fully invested.

“I see battle. You’re about to go into a big one soon,” she said vaguely.

“Yea I knew that. We’re prepping for it now,” Yunho stated.

“It’s a battle you may not survive.”

Yunho looked at the woman grimly.

“Wait, what?”

“It’s not set in stone yet boy, but if you don’t play your cards right there could be devastating outcomes.”

“Do you know how we can win?”

“I don’t even know what you’re up against, boy.”

“Well we’re up against Sintress and her weird cultists,” Yunho informed.

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Well, we’re also up against someone called The Dark One.”

The woman looked at Yunho with horror. Just then, the flames turned a dark purple. It got increasingly hotter as the flame grew. Yunho felt his hand start to burn.

“I see a Grim Reaper…”

“Put it out it’s starting to burn!”

The woman stared blankly into the flames.

“I see blood. And an Angel,” she continued.

“Hey!” Yunho yelled at the lady. She broke out of her trance and looked at Yunho. She then threw some power onto the flaming hand and put it out. Yunho clenched his hand in pain. He looked at the woman angrily.

“My hand was starting to burn. Why did the flame do that when I said The Dark O-” the woman immediately hushed Yunho.

“We do not say that name around here,” the woman scolded.

“What is this like Harry Potter or something? Why can’t I say his name?”

“I won’t allow it. If I had any idea what you were up against… you just shouldn’t say that name around here boy. And why didn’t you tell me what you were exactly?” The woman asked.

“You know what I am. I’m a Hero,” he answered.

“No you imbecile, your bloodline!”

Yunho looked at her confusingly. 

“What are you talking about?”

“Your bloodline. You’re a descendent of one of the Five Angels of War,” the woman stated.

“The Five whomst of what now?”

“The Five Angels of War. You had no idea?”

“I’ve never heard of that in my life,” Yunho proclaimed.

“Foolish child. Well then, let me tell you exactly what you are. You are not what everyone calls an ‘enhanced’, you are of the bloodline of one of the Five Angels of War. A long time ago, the monster you are about to battle put five beings on this earth to start his following. Recruiting every being of power that they could. The Gods needed to stop him from doing so. Naturally, they put five beings on earth to fight back. The Five Angels of War. An Angel of Mind, an Angel of Strength, an Angel of Speed, an Angel of Nature, and an Angel of Power. All the Angels fulfilled their duties but were destroyed in the process. There was rumor that one of them fell in love and had a child but nobody knew if it was true or not. Obviously it was,” the woman explained.

Yunho’s jaw was on the floor. He had no idea what to think. Did his parents know about this? Had they been keeping this from him? He thought he was just a normal enhanced Hero. 

“Whatever happens boy, do not let him fully enter this world. He will be a far bigger threat once he is here physically. You have the ability to stop it from happening. You must not let it happen,” the woman pleaded.

“Of course. I’ll do everything I can but how do we stop it?” Yunho asked.

“Stop the ritual,” she answered.

“What exactly is the ritual? What do they need and how can we stop it?”

“The ritual needs all of 5 things; an energizer, a powerful mind, strength enhancer, an abnormal heart, and a host. The energizer can’t just be someone who has normal energy abilities. Their energy abilities must also give life somehow. Like an energy exchange,” she continued.

“Someone like Nayoung. Who can heal through her energy powers,” Yunho added grimly.

“Do they have that? Do they have someone with that ability?” 

“No we have her. They tried to get her but we got to her first. They have someone from our team who has normal energy powers. Why would they keep him alive though?”

“That devil and his followers are just sinister that way. They probably have him as a form of bait,” she explained.

“And you said a powerful mind? Like how?”

“Maybe like a higher level telepath. Someone with strong mind abilities. He needs a strong mind to absorb. Help him adjust to this world and also give him power in the process.”

“Oh no. Seonghwa,” Yunho stumbled back.

“Do they have that?”

“Yea. One of my teammates,” Yunho answered.

“What about a strength enhancer?”

“Someone with strength? Like a brute?” Yunho questioned.

“Yes, exactly,” she answered.

“Yea they do. My other teammate, Jongho.” Yunho’s expression grew more worried.

“Do they have an abnormal heart? Someone whose heart is not like a humans?”

Yunho thought for a second then it hit him.

“Yeosang.”

“How about a host?”

“Can’t that be anyone?” Yunho asked.

“No. It has to be someone special. A normal person can’t withstand his presence in the body. It’ll immediately die out. Someone who could withstand a strong spirit,” she explained.

“I don’t know,” Yunho said wearily.

“Think! Someone who could hold a strong spirit within them,” she interrogated.

“Someone like an Aura Spirit…” Yunho fell to his knees.

“Yes exactly. Do they have that?”

Yunho sat quietly. They had almost everything they needed. And ⅘ of the requirements was his friends. His teammates. His family.

“Yea they do.”

Wooyoung. 

“You can’t let them win, boy. You must stop that abomination from coming into this world,” the woman pleaded.

“I will do everything I can. I can’t let them use my teammates as their sacrifice ritual subjects,” Yunho said angrily.

“This goes beyond your friends boy. If he succeeds, he could end us all as we know it. Which is why you must not just stop with this. If people are trying to bring him back that must mean his five beings are on earth again. That’s five different sections of the cult. You must stop all of them,” she warned.

Yunho’s heart felt like it was going to explode. After a moment of silence he looked up at the woman.

“Why did you do this? Why did you give me a reading?”

She hesitated. “I had a feeling. I didn’t have a vision but I had a very strong feeling about giving you a reading. Something really wanted me to give you a reading. I have another feeling right now that it might have something to do with your bloodline,” she explained.

Yunho looked down and ignored her answer. He still had no idea what to think of this bloodline nonsense. An Angel? His thoughts were beginning to drown him.

Suddenly, gunshots went off.

\--------------

Mingi and Nayoung ducked behind some boxes that sat in front of the small house.

“What was that?” Nayoung asked.

“I don’t know. This place is filled with people with magic and stuff, who would need a gun?” Mingi questioned.

Nayoung peeked behind the boxes and saw two figures dressed in black. She gasped and hid again.

“There are two people in black. Do you think they’re here for us?” Nayoung stared intensely at Mingi. 

“I don’t know. I mean it would make sense. It could be some more mercenaries. How would they have found us?”

“I mean they are mercenaries, right? That’s their specialty. They find people and kill them for a living. I’m sure they have their ways,” Nayoung implied.

“You’re right. But I don’t know how they would find this place. Huntra said it was protected by magic,” Mingi stated.

Suddenly a deep voice interrupted their conversation.

“I know you’re here. Step out and comply and make it easy. I don’t want to have to do this the hard way. The painful way,” the voice said.

“I know they’re around here somewhere. I saw them standing out here,” another voice said suddenly.

Mingi recognized the voice.

“Hold on. Isn’t that Huntra’s friend's voice. The one who answered the door,” Mingi pointed out.

“Yea. Ji,” Nayoung added.

Just then, Huntra stepped out of the small house with San.

“Ji, what is this?” Huntra looked at Ji angrily.

“Well, Huntra. If you must ask. I didn’t like the friends you brought here. This is a place for people like me to freely be disgusted with Heroes. It’s bad enough we let you come here. I heard these lovely visitors were looking for your friends and I just had to help them out,” Ji stated sinisterly.

He turned to the two figures dressed in head to toe black. “They are all yours. You can thank me later,” Ji snarked.

“Why thank you. I do need one more thing though,” the voice continued.

“Why, anything for my welcomed visitors.”

“Your silence.”

Just then, one of the figures put his hands around Ji’s head and snapped his neck. Huntra and San looked at the action in horror. Nayoung stood up quickly and flashed her powers. The figures groaned in pain and covered their eyes.

“That should blind them for a minute. Let’s go!” They all began to run.

“Wait! Where’s Yunho!” Huntra looked at everyone. Suddenly, a gust of wind occurred and the two figures went flying into the air, landing on some street trash bags. Yunho appeared and motioned for them to come.

“Let’s get out of here!” 

They all began running. They pushed past normal civilians and saw some of the victims of the two figures lying in the street. People were running and hiding from the figures. They ran as fast as they could, knocking things over and making a mess. They finally made it to the door and ran into the dark tunnel. People’s screams echoed into the tunnel. They made it to the end and Huntra began to chant. Flashing lights began to appear and the loud sound was coming back. Yunho looked back to see the two figures running into the tunnel. Before they could make it to them, the lights consumed the team and they were gone. They all opened their eyes and found themselves on the pavement above. The floor was still damp and it was still night time.

“Hurry. They’ll get up here soon. We need to get out of here,” Huntra commanded.

They ran out to the street and saw a man standing there, pointing a gun directly at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little longer than I thought it would be but I think I'm happy with how it turned out. Leave a comment below and tell me what you think. I love feedback.


	9. The End of the Beginning Part 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Those who were taken by Sintress and her forces finally learn their fate. The others work hard find a way to stop them. Someone else comes in to make things a little more complicated. At least that's what it seems like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think :)

The ground was as cold as ice. The air around was cold as well. Hongjoong slowly arose from the cold surface and got onto his knees. He looked around the room but could barely see. It was dark. Little light came in through what looked like bars. He couldn’t remember what was going on. He felt like he just got hit by a bus. He then noticed something else move. He realized it was a body. He looked at his hair and his suit and analyzed it. Jongho.

“Jongho?”

Jongho quickly turned to see the voice then visibly let out a breath of relief when he saw who it was.

“Hyung. Are you okay?”

“Yea I’m fine, I think. I can barely remember anything though. You?”

“Yea, I remember everything. Eden’s a traitor, we thought we had him fooled but he must’ve been ready for us. He took us out and must’ve kidnapped us. I don’t know exactly what happened after we went out though. It’s a little fuzzy. All I remember is going in and out of consciousness and seeing a giant…”

He paused for a second then his eyes widened. Joong’s eyes did the same, meaning he caught on as well.

“Grim Reaper,” Jongho finished.

“San,” they said collectively.

“Is he here?” 

Joong looked around frantically and saw another body lying still on the floor. He crawled over and turned the body over. It was Wooyoung.

“Wooyoung. Wooyoung, are you okay? Wake up,” Joong said, trying to wake him up. He felt for a pulse then sighed with relief.

“He’s okay, he must’ve just been affected more. I mean that wouldn’t make sense though since he is an Aura spirit,” Joong analyzed.

“I don’t know,” Jongho said quietly.

“What’s going on?” 

Jongho and Hongjoong both looked over at the other corner to see Seonghwa slowly getting up.

“Seonghwa. Thank goodness you’re alive. Are you okay though?” Joong looked at hwa curiously.

Seonghwa nodded his head slowly.

“Yea. Yea I think I’m okay. My head hurts a lot though,” he answered.

“Where are the others?” Hwa looked around with his eyes squinting.

“I don’t know. It’s only us four here, I think,” Joong stated.

“Five.”

They turned again to another dark corner to see someone else slowly getting up. Yeosang.

“Yeosang. I’m relieved to see so many of us here. But where are the others?” Joong said, letting out another sigh of relief.

“I only remember vaguely but I think San went berserk on our captors and threw them through walls in all his Grim Reaper glory,” Yeosang said sarcastically.

“But Eden still got away with us. So he left San then?” Jongho added.

“San and I think everyone else who isn't here,” Yeosang answered.

“That’s good then. I mean we were on the list right? All of us?” Joong asked.

Yeosang nodded.

“Then they don’t have whatever they need complete,” Joong said optimistically.

“I don’t know about that. The list said that it wanted Seonghwa, Jongho, me and either Wooyoung or San alive,” Yeosang said.

“Okay. What about me and the others?” Joong asked with visible fear.

“The list said that it wanted you, Mingi, and Yunho dead,” Yeosang said hesitantly. 

“Then why am I still alive? Why did they kidnap me when they could’ve just killed me back there?” Joong said, defeat laced in his voice.

“Well it’s not any fun that way now is it?”

They all turned to the bars to see Sintress on the other side. She gave an evil grin and gave them a flirty wave. 

“Why am I still alive?!” Joong asked angrily.

“Would I be a good host if I spoiled the surprise? You’ll just have to wait and see,” she said evilly.

“Enough of your games wench! Tell me what you want with my teammates!”

“Ouch. You are fiesty. This is the first time I’m meeting you and you are not leaving a good impression,” she replied.

Joong clenched his fists as his face turned red.

“You can’t do anything to me, luv. Your powers aren’t going to work with the pretty ankle bracelets you have on,” she stated.

The boys all realized they had the devices on their ankles.

“Since you’ll all probably die tonight, I’ll give you the satisfaction of knowing how, I guess. You guys are needed to complete the ritual. The ritual to bring back The Dark One. The one that’ll bring an end to the restraints held against people with powers. You can’t use them freely unless you’re a pathetic hero. Instead, people like me who wouldn’t ever be accepted into this world as a hero have to find other ways to put our powers to use. But that’ll all change when he’s freed. We’ll all be able to thrive with him. He’ll create an army of us that’ll destroy whatever gets in our way,” she prophesied. 

“You ‘villains’ always have the stupidest plans. What happens after you succeed? You're just gonna live happily ever after in a world where the people who would just ‘follow’ you are going to hate you? You can’t seriously believe that people are just going to be on board with this?” Yeosang snapped.

“Well, if they aren’t on board, we make an example of them. I don’t think you realize how powerful he is. He is the embodiment of evil. He holds power like you’ve never seen before. He can make anything you’ve ever wanted become reality,” she described.

“And what exactly is in it for you? Just walking around freely and using your powers?” Seonghwa questioned.

“He needs a queen doesn’t he?”

Seonghwa let out a laugh. She looked at him angrily.

“You really think he’s going to come here and be with you? You think bringing him here is just going to make him fall madly in love with you? He’s apparently the ‘pure embodiment of evil’. You can’t tell that he’s probably using you?” Seonghwa laughed.

“You have no idea who he is! You have no idea what he feels or who he loves! You’re just trying to mess with me! But fear not, last Sopharan. He has a plan for you,” she argued.

The team all gave her angry looks. Wooyoung finally awoke and looked around confused.

“Good, you’re all awake. Now you can all hear your tragic ends. He needs five things. Five sacrifices. He needs a strong mind to absorb. That would be you, little Sopharan.”

Seonghwa looked at her angrily.

“He needs a body of strength. A strong body that he can absorb strength from. That would be you, tiny brute.”

Jongho shook his head.

“He needs an abnormal heart. A heart that is ‘special’. That’s where the lovely android comes in.”

Yeosang scoffed at her.

“He needs an energizer. But not a normal one. He needs a person who can almost give energy into a person. Similar to some healers.”

“Nayoung,” Yeosang stated.

“Someone’s been doing some reading. You are correct. I have mercenaries out for her already. They tracked her to Hong Kong which is odd but whatever. They’ll be bringing her back anytime now. And lastly, he needs a host. A body that can withstand his presence. A strong body that can hold a spirit besides their own. Someone like you, little puppy.”

Wooyoung looked at her angrily.

“You’re a sick person.”

“Someone’s being a bad boy today. No treats for you scooby. As for you, leader, you have the privilege of watching this all go down. And don’t think anyone’s gonna come save you. Your friends were blown up at your base. Along with my awful sister.”

Seonghwa fell to his knees.

“How lucky is it that we got all the ones we needed. It’s like we planned this or something,” she laughed.

“You really are sick. So sick that you’d blow up your own sister,” Joong said, tears falling from his face.

“I stopped caring about my sister a very long time ago. Her death was a check off my bucket list,” she said, sinisterly.

The boys all looked down in shame. Tears fell from all of their faces.

“Now it won’t be too long now. They should be here soon with our last essential ingredient. You guys should try to enjoy your time that you have left.”

The boys felt defeat. What were they going to do?

\--------------

Huntra stood there as still as a statue. She felt like she was staring into what felt like the gun's eyes. San, Yunho, Mingi and Nayoung all had their eyes elsewhere. The person holding the long gun wore a helmet. The whole face part was a dark black visor. None of his face was visible. The rest of the helmet was a dark golden color. It wore a piece of cloth that draped across his chest and to his back, almost ancient greek-like. Under it was matching colored armour to the helmet. All the armour was matching down to the boots. Although he seemed like another mercenary, something about him felt different to the others. Something eerie.

Just then, the two mercenaries that chased them came running out from the alley. They pulled out their weapons, ready to kill the team when they became frozen just like the team did. They looked to the unknown mercenary and ran the other way. San watched them run off then gulped loudly. The unknown mercenary grabbed a disk from his back and threw it. It sliced both of the other mercenaries. Both fell to the floor, dead.

The disk came back to him, causing everyone to flinch.

“Sorry about that. I couldn’t let them report back to Tintress or whatever her name is. That wench is evil. Tried to screw me over with one of the bounties I got by giving me less money then I was supposed to get. But It’s not gonna matter. As soon as I get the pretty little lady back to her, and all of your dead bodies to her, I’ll be set for life. Otherwise she’ll pay for the work I had to do,” the unknown mercenary explained.

His voice was masked by an effect the helmet did that made him sound like he was speaking through a phone, but they could tell it was a man. 

“You guys get back to the place we came when we got here and wait for me. I’ll hold him back,” Huntra commanded.

“Huntra, no. We’ll fight him together,” San stated forcefully.

“No, San. I’m not gonna give him a chance to kill you guys. Plus, you can’t use your powers right now anyways. I’ll handle him. Just get back to where we entered, and wait,” she demanded. 

San nodded hesitantly. Huntra quick teleported right beside him and kicked him towards a closed restaurant. He flew through the front window of the building. She looked to the other and motioned for them to go.

“Hurry. I won’t be long,” she said, pulling out her double edged sword.

They ran past her and towards the alley they portaled to. Huntra walked through the broken window, the sound of shattered glass beneath her heels cracking even more. She walked up to the mercenary, still getting up, and picked him up by the cloth around his shoulders.

“I’m impressed. I’ll admit, I forgot about your teleporting ability,” he said with a laugh.

“There’s more where that came from,” she said, throwing him farther into the building. He landed on a table, breaking it and everything on it.

He quickly got up and looked at her.

“I’m not here to fight you Huntra. You’re not on the list. Just mind your business. This has nothing to do with you,” he warned.

“Mind my business? That must be your favorite phrase. Remember when you said that to me before? When I was going through your phone? When you were texting Sooyoung or whatever her name was? Well, I didn’t mind my business then and it helped me. It helped me to get out of that relationship with your pathetic and idiotic self. So maybe, not listening again can help me this time too,” she said, all while kicking and punching him.

“You're still not over that?”

She looked at him, fury in her eyes.

“Still not over it? Still not over it?!”

She couldn’t see his face but his loud gulp was sign enough that he knew he stepped in it.

She began to do complex moves on him. Flipping around and hitting pressure points. He tried to block them but was failing. She power kicked him through the wall and into the backroom kitchen. She lifted him up and tossed him onto another table. She then got on top of him and grabbed his helmet. She pulled it off and threw it to the side. She began to punch him. He laid there and took it.

“Alright! Hyolyn! Enough! That’s enough!” He chanted.

“I’m not done yet,” she said, still punching him.

He used his legs to launch her to the side. She fell onto the ground. He got off the table and onto his knees next to where she lay.

“I let you take your anger out, now can you listen?”

She looked at him more angrier.

“Listen?! What could you possibly say to make this better?!”

“I can help you,” he said.

She stopped.

“Help me how?!”   
  


“Help you stop your psychotic sister,” he answered.

She paused for a second, catching her breath.

“You were just trying to kill my friends, the ones she wants dead.”

“I knew you needed to take out some anger. I knew you wouldn’t just blindly accept my help up front. So I just did this to help you vent. Plus I thought it’d be fun. I forgot how strong you are,” he explained.

“Why would you want to help me? Help us? What’s in it for you?”

“Well, I’m one of the highest ranked mercenaries. Once while I was waiting for an assignment, I overheard her going over the plan with some rando in a mask and cloak. When I heard the plan, I was shocked. It’s insane what they’re trying to do. I don’t want to live in a world where that kind of evil exists. I can’t,” he explained.

“Did my sister not recognize you?”

“No, she’s never seen me in my suit.”

She sighed deeply and fixed her hair.

“We can’t let her succeed. We have to stop her. I don’t want to have to worry about that. I already have other things to worry about. One being making things right with us.”

She scoffed and pushed him back, adding an eye roll as well.

“There is no us to worry about. You made sure of that when you decided to cheat on me,” she sassed.

He sighed heavily.

“How can you help us?”

“I’ve got a weapon. And not just anyone either.”

She gave him a weird look.

“What exactly could you use against my sister or The Dark One for that matter?”

“A weapon. One that can kill a god.”

She shook her head in denial.

“I’m sorry, what? A weapon that can kill a god? Are you crazy or are you crazy?”

“I’m serious.”

He pulled out something wrapped in cloth from behind him. He unwrapped it and there laid a long dagger. It was a bright silver and the handle was wrapped in black cloth. Right at the base was a glowing green diamond.

“How do you know this can kill a god?”

“Remember when I had that trip planned to South America. Well, I was exploring and found a cave. Very basic story but I explored the cave, found some weird drawings, then found the dagger. There was writing that basically said this is the god killer. A weapon forged to kill an immortal being,” he described.

“But how do you know it works?”

“Because… I killed Dara.”

“Wait… you killed Dara?!”

“Yea that immortal wench had it coming. She threatened to kill you, again. I thought enough was enough so I decided to try it out. And here I am now.”

Dara was a demigoddess. She ruled a powerful mob in a very sketchy part of town. Huntra always found herself clashing with her. Huntra could fight her, but killing her wasn’t exactly easy.

“So it really works?”

“Yes, I made sure she was dead. I checked up on her body for a week. Yea, that was creepy and it sounds even more creepy but with people like her, I just had to make sure,” he explained.

“Well, well, well. Junho, I think you just found the solution to one of our problems,” she stated.

“Only one question, are you sure you’re ready to kill your sister? I know she’s evil but she’s still your sister,” he questioned.

She paused for a moment. “If that’s what has to be done, then yes.” She stated, looking down with visible sadness.

He nodded slowly.

“Let’s get back to the others,” she instructed.

They walked back peacefully towards the alley they came from.

“Maybe when this is over, we can-”

“No!” 

He jumped when she yelled no. They stopped walking as Huntra turned to him angrily.

“There is nothing to fix or work on, there is no us. Lucky for you, I’ve forgiven you after that fight but that means nothing for us romantically. As soon as this is over, we can go back to doing our jobs and whatever. Also, when did you get back into mercenary work? I thought we dropped that. You can’t kill people for money,” Huntra scolded.

“Well, I have to make money somehow,” he protested.

“By doing people’s dirty work? Listen, Junho, I’m a Professional Hero. It’s my job to deal with crime and unfortunetly for you, murder is a crime. I can only go on so long knowing that’s your job before I have to take you in. You should already be in prison considering your track record,” she continued.

“But I’m not in prison. Your ‘feelings’ made sure of that,” he said with a sly grin.

“Well guess what buddy? I have no feelings holding me back anymore. So if you’d like to continue doing what you’re doing, then be ready for a pair of cuffs and bars in the near future. If not, do yourself a favor, and try your hand at being a waiter or whatever else it is that people do normally to make money.”

He sighed deeply then nodded hesitantly.

They continued walking quietly till they made it to the alleyway. The team all stood there quietly. They heard the footsteps then quickly turned. All their faces quickly turned sour at the sight of Junho walking behind her. Everyone got into fighting positions.

“Stop. Don’t worry, turns out he’s an… old- friend,” she said with slight pain in her voice.

“I’m not going to hurt you guys, I promise. I just had to make it look like I was going to kill you. And also I had to let Hyolyn here let out some anger,” he explained.

All their faces quickly turned into puzzled looks from his explanation.

“Don’t ask,” she said forcefully.

“Why are you here?” San slowly lowered his katana.

“Well, I have a weapon we can use against them,” he said, pulling out the dagger and showing them.

“How do you know this works?” Mingi glared at him.

“We’ve already been over this. We’re wasting time. We should leave soon if we’re going to save your friends,” he suggested.

“Before we go, I need to ask. Where did you go Yunho?” Huntra folded her arms which oddly intimidated everyone.

“I just thought I’d look around,” he answered.

Huntra gave him a look that basically meant “what else”?

He sighed deeply. “I decided to look around, like I said. I found a small shop and this lady decided to give me a reading,” he elaborated.

“And you just let her give you a reading?” San looked at him with annoyance.

“She seemed very insistent on giving me one. And she said it was free of charge so I let her. And she gave me some hard to swallow information.”

“What did she say?” Nayoung asked randomly.

Yunho explained everything that she told him. The possibility of losing, the ritual, the essentials needed for the ritual and everyone’s part in it, and his bloodline.

“Wait… what?!” San looked at him in shock.

“I know, it’s a lot to take in. Apparently, I’m an Angel or I at least have the bloodline of one. My existence was basically based on the fight against this ‘embodiment of evil’ who I haven’t even heard of till now. So maybe I’m meant to make sure he stays off this earth,” Yunho suggested.

“How do you know if this woman is telling the truth? For all we know, she could be bonkers,” Mingi protested.

“I don’t know. I don’t think she’s lying though. Something deep down feels she’s telling the truth,” Yunho described.

“Well, it would make sense. I’ve been told the story of the Five Angels of War as well,” stated Huntra.

“Yea and the essentials for the ritual make sense too. I mean, Sintress never told any of the mercenaries what her plan was, just to do what we were getting paid to do. I heard her plans and I couldn’t be on board with that,” added Junho.

“And it would make sense considering what happened at base. I mean, they made sure they got all the ones they needed when he took the others. We weren’t top priority. We were just supposed to die,” San said solemnly.

“The others are just lambs waiting to be slaughtered. We need to get to them fast. It’s only a matter of time before they just decide to find someone else with similar abilities to Nayoung,” Junho instructed.

“What are we going to do when we get there?” Yunho questioned.

“I don’t know. We can’t just storm the place. They probably have lots of other enhanced who could help to stop us. We need a game plan,” Huntra suggested.

Nobody said anything. Nobody knew what to do. Junho slowly raised his hand.

“It might be a long shot but… I think I have an idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is being posted really soon after which is weird for me but I've just been writing like crazy which actually makes me happy. I'm not in a writers block or anything for once so that's cool I guess lol. This one is a bit shorter but it's probably the calm before the storm lol. Again, please comment below and tell me what you think. I love feedback. Thanks for reading everyone!


	10. The End of the Beginning Part 10: The Final Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final battle is upon us. Will the team be successful or will they fall to the hands of evil?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

“Huntra, do you hear anything?” San questioned impatiently. 

She leaned over and put her hair behind her ear. Nothing. Not one sound. It was completely quiet. Not even any rats or any other pesky rodents.

“How exactly can you hear that far?” Yunho asked.

“It’s one of my passive abilities. Along with enhanced sight, smell and pretty much every sense. When I get hit, it hurts a lot more but that’s what my enhanced healing is for. I didn’t get the title ‘The Ultimate Spy’ for nothing,” she answered.

“Passive abilities?” Mingi looked puzzled.

“Yea. Most enhanced usually have passive abilities. Passive abilities are abilities that aren’t used for the offensive. Telepathy would be one for Seonghwa. He can’t use it against people just as a passive power. Nayoung’s would be healing. Mine are my enhanced senses and enhanced regeneration. I’m sure you have one, Mingi,” Huntra insisted.

“Yea I guess mine would be my resistance to fire. It can’t hurt me.”

“Exactly. Yunho’s could be his enhanced reflexes. Or your resistance to light and sound.”

“How did you know I had resistance to those?”

“You forget I read your files.”

Yunho gave a satisfied look and nodded.

“San’s are a bit confusing. But I’m thinking your passive abilities could be your connection with Limbo and such.”

San shrugged.

“Y’know, for Pro Heroes you guys don’t know that much about your capabilities,” Huntra inferred.

“Let’s just say our training was more based on how to use our powers and not what we can fully do,” San stated.

Huntra nodded then continued listening in.

They waited a few more minutes. Still nothing.

“Alright, we’re wasting time here. I just did a scan with my helmet and there was nothing I picked up with that either. I’m thinking they’re maybe not here,” Junho exclaimed.

“Fine. Yunho, it’s your turn. Do a run through and see if anyone is there. Be careful though, this could be a trap,” Huntra instructed.

Yunho nodded obediently. He then sped off down the secret staircase hidden under the last remaining giant mixer thing at the west building. It didn’t take long for him to return surprisingly. He came back unharmed and unphased by anything. 

“What did you see? Are they here?” Mingi asked.

“Nothing. I sped around the entire place. I looked to see if there were any other secret passage ways too. I don’t get it. They were meeting here before. Why aren’t they now?” Yunho said defeatedly. 

“I don’t know. I mean you said there were different sections or ‘branches’ of the cult. Maybe that means they have several different hideouts. They could be anywhere,” Huntra added.

“The city isn’t small. It would take forever to find them,” Nayoung attested.

They felt even more defeat then they did before. How could they stop them from sacrificing the team if they didn’t even know where to look? Or to even start looking for that matter.

Junho pulled out one of the devices the mercenaries use and began to play with it.

“How long have you had that?” Huntra asked.

“This one isn’t mine actually. Mine was destroyed when a certain someone was beating me up earlier,” Junho answered.

Huntra looked down awkwardly.

“So whose is it then?” Nayoung questioned.

“Well, I took it from those freak mercenaries who tried to take you from your home before you guys got to her first,” Junho explained.

“The weird robot sounding dudes with the silver guns? I was wondering why they didn’t come after us,” Yunho added.

“Yea well, if they were to report back to Sintress then she would know that you guys are alive. They think you guys died in the explosion.”

“How did you know about them?” Mingi asked.

“Well I tracked you guys there and saw them. I knew they were mercenaries so I asked. They weren’t really cooperative so I did what I had to.”

He played with the device some more but nothing was working.

“I don’t know how to work this thing,” he admitted. He chucked it far and gave up.

They were stuck.

San sat down angrily and put his sword to the side. He put his hands over his face and sighed heavily. He couldn’t even use his powers. That and the mere fact that they couldn’t find them made him feel even worse. He felt useless. This stuff always hit him the hardest.

“Well look guys, we can’t just sit here. It’s not going to help either-” San looked up ready to protest but nobody was there. Everything was gray. The area was completely empty. He arose and looked around, calling everyone’s name. Nothing. He walked to the street and there were no cars. It was empty. He turned rapidly and he was in a building. It was empty as well. It looked familiar but he couldn’t make out what it was exactly. He walked around the empty building and looked at everything. Nothing was making sense. He walked into the basement of the building and looked into every room. It was slowly coming back to him. He walked into a vault. Boxes lay everywhere. Was he in that vault? The one where he discovered a part of his abilities? The one that started it all? He saw a man sitting on the floor with his back against the wall and his face in his palms. He rocked back and forth, chanting something over and over again.

“Donghae?” San asked timidly. 

The man jumped from his voice. He looked at him in fear.

“You. You were that guy who started going crazy. Telling me I was dead. I’m not dead. This is some trick. One of Sintesses, huh? I didn’t follow through with her and Eden’s plan so she is having someone do some mind trick to me, huh? Are you the one doing this? You’re the only one I’ve seen here for the past how ever long I’ve been stuck here. Tell me. Tell me because I’m going out of my mind!” He ranted.

San stood there quietly while he continued to rant. Something deep down was telling him what he needed to do. What he needed to finish. What he should’ve done a long time ago. 

San walked up to the man and squatted down to his level. 

“Donghae. You died. I know it’s hard to believe but you did. You were murdered. Murdered by Sintress. She killed you. She killed you because you couldn’t do what she wanted you too,” San explained.

“No. Stop playing with my head! I didn’t die! I didn’t! You’re with her! You’re playing with my head! Get out of my head!”

“Donghae, I need you to remember. I need you to remember what she did to you. You died.”

Donghae began to quiet down. He stared at the spot where his body lay. He couldn’t see it earlier but he could now. It was starting to come back to him. Suddenly, the scene began to play out. The scene of his death. Color returned to his eyes as it began.

He ran into the vault. He looked around, panting, trying to catch his breath. He looked for a way out. He saw other doors but none would budge. He yanked on them, tears beginning to fall from his face. Sintress strutted into the room and looked at him with a sinister smile.

“This is useless, Donghae. You can’t run from me.”

“Please, Sintress. I have a family. Two daughters. They need me.”

“You should’ve thought about that before you screwed me over. You let her get away. You were so close to getting Nayoung for me. But you just had to be a good person and let her get away. It doesn’t matter who you try to save now, idiot. You still have blood on your hands.”

“I never wanted this. I joined the Specials Unit to be someone who could protect and fight for the rights of people like my daughter. People with powers. So I could watch her train and go on to become a Professional Hero,” he explained, more tears falling from his face.

“I forget you have an enhanced daughter. And your other one is training to work with Eden. Wow. You guys are all pathetic. No one wanted to do something else? Maybe be an idol or something? Instead, you all follow in the same footsteps?” She laughed.

“My daughters are strong. My wife is strong. They’ll figure out eventually that I’m dead and that they will get away from you.”

“Oh, sweetie. Did you not hear me the first time? You can’t run from me. I will always find what I’m looking for. Always. And don’t you worry about your precious daughters and wife. I will find good use for them. I will make sure that your death will not be in vain or whatever you want done with your legacy. They will stay working for me. If any of them even try to betray me like their innocent little father, I will make sure they die a slow painful death.”

“You’re evil. You won’t succeed. I’m sure there will be Heroes that can stop you. That will stop you.”

She chuckled with delight.

“That is quite funny. Now, I’m bored. Let’s make this fun, shall we?”

She held her hand out, her black energy emerging from her palm. It slowly made its way to Donghae. He looked up to the ceiling and closed his eyes. The energy completely consumed him. He began to scream in pain. It only took a couple seconds before the energy killed him. She retracted the energy and laughed evilly. She walked away as if nothing happened.

Everything turned back gray. San looked at Donghae who still stared at his body, tears slowly falling.

“I didn’t want to. When Eden started making us do this years ago, I didn’t want to. I just wanted to be there for my daughter. He threatened me, y’know?”

San looked down shamefully.

“He threatened to put my daughter into the mercenary program. But she was so happy training to be a hero. She was good at it too. I didn’t want them to do that to her. Not my baby... So, I listened to everything he said. Eventually my wife got involved. She didn’t want anything to happen to our baby either. And my other baby. I didn’t want her to get dragged in. But she did it. She wanted to. She even promised that one day, she’d get me out of there. So much for that, huh?”

San cleared his throat.

“I know you didn’t want to do any of this. I’m sorry you had to go through with that. Is your daughter a Pro Hero yet?”

“Yea. She is. Do you think you could give her a message for me?”

San nodded with a slight smile, tears beginning to form. Donghae leaned over and began to whisper into his ear. He leaned back and smiled.

“Let her know that, okay?”

San nodded again, tears now falling from his face.

“I think I know what I am now. Well, I’ve always known but I think I know my purpose. My purpose with these powers,” San stated.

“I remember you actually. You were training while I was working with Eden. Before he went crazy. You were very impressive. And I’ve seen your powers. I think I know where you’re going with this,” Donghae inferred.

“Grim Reapers have always been feared. People see them as something evil. But that’s not the case at all. We are the last remaining tie between the physical world and the spiritual world. I’m supposed to guide you to the afterlife. I’m not in charge of where you go just to guide you to your judgement,” San explained.

Donghae nodded.

“I know that my wife and my other daughter died. Once my death scene played out, I saw their deaths as well,” Donghae said, painfully.

“Then you know that you aren’t going to be alone. You’ll be with them. And all three of you can watch over your other daughter,” San insisted.

Donghae smiled.

“Now, let’s get you to where you need to go,” San instructed.

They both got up and walked out of the vault. They walked up the stairs and into the main lobby of the bank. They walked outside and stopped right in front of the building. A white portal opened up right before their eyes.

“Sorry I left you in this place for so long,” San said.

Donghae chuckled.

“It’s okay. There’s not really time here. I didn’t really notice.”

San motioned for him to walk through. Before he walked in completely, he turned to San.

“Do me one more favor. Don’t let them win.”

San nodded firmly. Donghae nodded firmly back then walked in. Everything began to warp until San closed his eyes.

San opened them and found himself back with the team. They looked at San with concern.

“How long has it been? Like, how long have we been sitting here?” San questioned.

“Like two minutes. You okay?” Mingi asked.

“Yea. I’m okay. He was right. Time really does function differently there,” San stated.

“What?” Junho looked at him with even more concern.

“No time to waste. We have some friends to save,” San said, getting up fast and grabbing his katana.

“Do you know where they are?” Nayoung asked, getting up with him.

“I do, in fact,” he answered.

“How?” Huntra asked, getting up as well.

“I’ll explain on the way. We are going back to where it all began.”

\---------------

People in cloaks and masks pushed them. Hongjoong tried to push them away but they only got rougher. They forced them into a giant area where writings filled the walls and a large tomb sat in the center of the room. Torches were lit around the room, filling it with light. Around the tomb on the ground were more writings. Joong couldn’t tell what it said or what language it even was. They pushed all of them onto their knees and undid thier chains around their wrists. The cloaked people began chanting in an unknown language. There were male drummers at every corner banging on large drums. They were shirtless but covered in tattoos. They too also wore masks’. The chanting got quieter as Sintress and Eden entered the room.

“This cannot get any weirder. Or creepier,” Wooyoung mumbled, looking around the room.

Seonghwa slouched, his expression had defeat written all over it. 

“Seonghwa, don’t lose hope. Maybe we can stop this,” Joong encouraged.

“There is nothing we can do, Joong. This is the end. We failed. We failed and we were barely leaving rookie status,” Seonghwa stated.

Joong felt hurt by that. He felt like he was to blame. He was the leader. He was the one who was supposed to guide the team. Instead, he was captured by Eden. Someone he looked up to. The signs were there and he ignored them.

“Hey! Hey! What’s going on!? I don’t see Nayoung here yet? How are you gonna do this without her?” Joong yelled.

The chanting continued. Sintress smirked at him.

“Who said we didn’t have Nayoung. She has just arrived,” Sintress informed. Just then, Nayoung walked through the entrance with her hands tied. Behind her was a man in a suit that the team didn’t recognize. He held a gun to her back.

“Just in time, Visage. And not a hair on her head injured,” Sintress applauded.

“Did you not have faith in me?” The unknown man asked.

“Well, you haven’t failed me with any other task. I guess I was just a bit… skeptical. This was a pretty big task.”

“Well, she’s here. Now, I want my payment,” he demanded.

“Classic mercenary. Money first. I admire your mindset.” She pulled out one of those devices and began to type on it.

“Am I ever going to learn your real name, Visage? I can only go so long without knowing the real name of my employees,” she asked while she typed on the device.

“I don’t work for you, Sintress. You have no reason to know my information. All I want is my money.”

She sighed.

“Oh well. Your loss on something big. The Dark One could’ve used you. Guess you’ll just have to wait and see what he has to offer for yourself.”

“Yea, yea, yea. Just hurry up.”

She rolled her eyes and continued to type. It was taking a bit for her to get it done. 

Joong felt his leg twitch randomly. He looked back and noticed his power restricting ankle bracelet was gone. He tried not to react so he wouldn’t draw attention. He looked to the others and noticed there's were gone too. They looked around gradually to see what was going on. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The chanting continued, the drums were still softly being played, Sintress was still typing on the device, nothing was out of the ordinary.

Seonghwa used his telekinesis to silently break his cuffs. He did the same to the others. 

Sintress finished the payment and put the device away.

“Alright, it’s done. Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider my offer?”

“I’m positive.”

“Okay.” He began to walk away slowly.

“You told him about The Dark One. What if he does something to mess this up?” Eden whispered to Sintress.

“Already on it,” she answered. She motioned for two cloaked ones to kill Visage. They slowly followed the mercenary out the entrance.

She turned to Eden.

“Now, as soon as they come back, we will get started. Make sure everyone is accounted for. We can’t have one missing cultist. When I told each and every one of them that they were important, I wasn’t lying. He needs all of their energies. Understand?” Sintress looked at Eden intensely.

He nodded.

“Good. Now, I’m going to get Ms. Hard to catch here into her ritual outfit. You love playing dress up, right?”

Nayoung gave a sarcastic smile then rolled her eyes.

“Also, make sure you get the others in their robes. Only the best for our king,” she instructed.

Eden yelled at some cultists to cloak Joong and them. He then began to count the cloaked cultists one by one. The two cloaked cultists Sintress instructed earlier to kill Visage entered the room.

“I trust you were able to finish him?” Eden asked them.

They nodded.

“Good,” Eden answered. “Now get to your places.”

Joong and the others pretended to still have their hands cuffed. Cloaked cultists put the robes on them forcefully.

Sintress and Nayoung walked in through the other entrance. Nayoung was wearing a black silky dress. She grunted and resisted Sintress a bit. Sintress squeezed her arm. She let out a small painful squeal. Sintress ordered the cultists to bring the boys to the center.

“Put each of them on their respectful symbols. I trust you idiots know who goes where?” They nodded.

“Put Clifford the small, defenseless puppy in the tomb. He needs to be laying inside of it,” Sintress instructed.

Wooyoung kicked a rock perfectly at Sintress. She frowned.

“Mangy mutt.”

They put Wooyoung inside of the tomb and closed it.

“Begin the ritual!” Sintress yelled. The drums were loud. The people’s voices raised. The fire began to get bigger.

The ritual has begun. Everyone had their hands in the air.

Joong looked to Seonghwa.

“Whatever we’re gonna do, we should do it now!” He yelled. Nobody could hear them because it was so loud.

“Hold on. I think someone else might be here. Someone on our side. You think the ankle bracelets just came off?”

Joong nodded hesitantly.

Suddenly, Sintress yelled for them to stop. It was dead silent.

She looked at all of the cloaked cultists.

“Someone isn’t participating. Who is it?” Everyone was still and quiet.

“Is it you?” She pointed to a random cultist.

“No, my beautiful. I was giving all my energy!”

She then accused several others. All denied. She continued walking around till she stopped at one. Everyone’s hearts were beating.

“You. Are you giving all your energy?”

The person wasn’t saying anything. The masks on everyone made it impossible for Sintress to tell who was the culprit.

“I asked you a question!”

He sighed.

“I was at first then I just got a little tired.”

Sintress looked at him with disgust.

“Excuse me?”

The person took off their mask and hood from the cloak.

“Hi, we’ve met before. The names Mingi. I haven’t formally introduced myself.”

Just then, the cloaked one next to him took off his mask. It was San. Visage entered the room again. He retracted the visor part of his helmet to show his face. It was Junho.

“Turns out, I think I do want to take up your offer. Or maybe just spoil your plans.”

Junho began shooting at the cultists. They all began to run at him. Huntra teleported in and began to fight them. Yunho sped in and to the middle. He pushed the tomb door off and helped Wooyoung out.

“Hey, buddy.”

Wooyoung’s eyes filled with tears and he jumped on Yunho, giving him the biggest hug.

“Love you too. We should probably hold the hugs for later though.”

Wooyoung nodded then jumped off. He turned to the cultists and began to fight. Joong, Seonghwa Jongho, Yeosang, and Nayoung all turned to help as well. It turned into an all out war. Cultists were flying across the room. Some stood a chance while others didn’t. Some were just humans with no abilities. Others actually had powers to fight with. None of their abilities even came close to matching anyones on the team.

Joong and Seonghwa both cornered Eden.

“Remember us?”

“Don’t try and guilt trip me Hongjoong. I did what I had to. I’m tired of people like you.”

“You mean people who go out almost everyday and fight against powerful villains. I’m sorry that upsets you so much. Maybe I should let them go through with their plans.”

“Fool.”

Eden pulled out two guns and began to shoot. Hongjoong used his powers to create a forcefield. The bullets all disintegrated on impact with his forcefield. Seonghwa used his telekinesis to take his guns away from him. Eden and Joong began to fight, hand to hand. Both were blocking almost every move.

“You know all my tricks. This is an even battle,” Eden proclaimed.

“I don’t really care about being even to be honest.”

Suddenly, Eden got kicked away. Seonghwa and Joong both ran towards Eden to continue the fight. 

Sintress tried to escape but Huntra stopped her in her path. She air tackled Sintress into the other room. Both got up quickly and turned to each other.

“I gotta say, I’m glad you didn’t die in that fire,” Sintress stated.

“Funny,” Huntra replied.

“No really, I am. Now, I can kill you myself,” Sintress said, kicking Huntra at the wall. Huntra stood up quickly and they started fighting. Sintress was stronger than her sister, but Huntra was faster and smarter. 

“I’m getting tired of fighting you sister. Why can’t you just be supportive like a normal sibling,” she said, still swinging punches.

“Hard to be supportive when your plans involve killing people and raising ancient evils.”

They continued fighting.

“Just like mom. Hard to please,” Sintress mumbled.

Huntra stopped. She looked at Sintress angrily.

“Don’t say anything about mom. She tried so hard to help you. Instead you turned your back on her while she got murdered by our father. Wait, sorry, your father,” Huntra yelled.

“For good reason. She just couldn’t stay out of the way. Always trying to be the hero. Just like you.”

Huntra kicked Sintress to the ground.

“You and your father are both sick.”

“You can say the same thing as many times as you want little sister but he’s still your father.”

“No. He stopped being my father after that. I knew you two got involved in something you shouldn’t have. Didn’t know it was a creepy cult. But none of this matters anyways. I’m going to do what should’ve been done all along.”

“And what’s that Huntra? You gonna kill me? I can’t be killed!”

“You can be killed. It’s just not that easy. You forget Sintress. I may not be a demigoddess but I can’t be killed that easy either.”

Sintress chucked Huntra to the wall. She got on top of her and began to punch her over and over again.

“I can kill you. Just watch.”

Sintress continued to punch her.

Junho fought off cultists. He looked over to see Sintress beating Huntra to a pulp. Junho ran towards Sintress and tackled her off of Huntra. He then pulled out the dagger.

“Any last words, Sintress.”

“You can’t kill me. When are you idiots going to get that through your thick skulls!”

“I think you’d be surprised what I can do.”

Junho plunged the dagger into her chest. Sintress gasped loudly. Her eyes were wide. She stared straight at the ceiling. 

“What is this?” She muttered.

“Proof that you’re wrong.”

He watched her gasp for air. It didn’t take long for her to become limp. She was dead.

“Well that was anticlimactic.”

He got up and walked over to Huntra, helping her up.

“You good?”

“Yea I’m okay. Hurry, go help the others.”

Junho nodded then ran off. Huntra walked over to Sintress. Her skin was turning grey. Her breathing slowed down then eventually stopped. Huntra slowly pulled the knife out. She looked down at Sintress intensely.

“Sorry sister. You had it coming though.” She turned to go help the others.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team were fighting valiantly. Jongho was tossing cultists left and right. Yeosang had an array of gadgets that took cultists out in seconds. Yunho sped around, punching and kicking cultists without them even seeing. Wooyoung created multiple wolf spirits, all attacking the cultists. San fought with his katana, using his combat skills to take them out. Nayoung shot rays of energy, shooting guards into the air. 

Hongjoong and Seonghwa still fought Eden. He was putting up a good fight. 

Eden fell to the ground. He tried to get up but was too weak.

“Look at you guys. Fighting someone completely defenseless. And you think I’m the coward.”

“I don’t want to fight you Eden! I looked up to you! You did this to yourself,” Joong scolded.

Eden laughed.

“I did this to myself, huh? Well, I’m no good then.”

“Don’t feel sorry for yourself. You need to take responsibility,” Seonghwa demanded.

“That’s not gonna happen. If I’m gonna go out though… might as well do it with a bang!”

Eden chucked his belt which was covered in explosives. They all beeped in unison. Seonghwa and Joong both looked at each other intensely.

Joong put a forcefield over the bombs as they exploded. He fell to his knees as he tried to hold the explosive energy within the forcefield.

“Seonghwa, get the team out of here. Hurry! I can’t hold it for long.”

“Joong I’m not leaving you! We are getting out of here together!”

“How Seonghwa? If I let this go, it’ll kill everyone. We can’t let our whole team die. I can’t let our whole team die. I’ve already failed you guys. Let me make up for it.”

“No, stop. Don’t talk like that. You haven’t failed us at all.”

“I could’ve done more. I could’ve led this team better.”

“You did your best. You were the best.”

“Looks like my best wasn’t enough then, huh?”

Seonghwa’s eyes began to form tears. He trembled to the ground.

“Seonghwa, be strong for me. I need you to be strong for me. Get everyone out of here please.”

Seonghwa wasn’t moving. He watched as the flames from the explosives were pushing against Joong’s forcefield. It looked like they were pushing against each other.

“Seonghwa! Go! Please!”

Seonghwa slowly got up then ran towards the others.

“We need to get out of here! Hurry!”

The others all obeyed, not knowing the predicament that Joong was in. Everyone ran out. San saw an unconscious Nayoung on the ground. He quickly picked her up and ran out. Rocks were falling from the ceiling. Being underground didn’t make this situation better. It made it worse. Remaining cultists were trying to get out but were too weak. 

Halfway through the tunnel back up, Huntra noticed Joong wasn’t there.

“Where is Hongjoong?!”

Seonghwa looked at her and hesitated.

“He’s stopping the explosives from killing us. He’s saving us,” he answered, tears falling from his face. He turned back around and kept running.

Huntra wasn’t moving. She looked back down the tunnel.

Meanwhile, Hongjoong still held the forcefield.

“Give it one more minute. Then I can let go,” he said to himself. His eyes became heavy. He was losing energy. He was beginning to fall over. He was losing balance.

“Just let go already, Joong,” Eden yelled.

“You’ve proven your point. You’ll do anything for your team. Your ‘family’. Just let go already,” Eden continued.

“Shut up.”

Just then, Joong fainted. The forcefield disappeared and the explosion consumed the underground location.

The team sat outside and caught their breath. The explosion completely destroyed the bank. Everyone took cover.

Seonghwa slowly stood up. He looked at the explosion and fell to his knees.

Hongjoong.

“Where’s Hongjoong?” Mingi asked, looking around.

“Where is he? Seonghwa, where is he?!”

“He-” 

Seonghwa couldn’t finish the sentence. 

“He what? He what?! Where is he?!”

“He didn’t make it out.”

Mingi shook his head in denial. The rest of the team did the same.

“He was the reason we could make it out.”

All the members cried. They fell to their knees and watched the fire burn.

San stared at the flames. No emotion was showing. He just stared blankly at the burning building. 

Suddenly, everything began to turn grey. He found himself in the underground cave again. Hongjoong stood over the tomb. He didn’t move. He just watched the tomb.

“Ho- Hongjoong?” San’s voice was trembling as tears fell from his face.

Hongjoong slowly turned around.

“San.”

Hongjoong smiled sweetly at San. it only made San cry more.

“I guess this is the part where you take me to where I need to go or something.”

San shook his head.

“No. I’m not taking you anywhere. I’m gonna fix this. I’m gonna find a way to fix this.”

“How San? I don’t even think I have a body to come back to. I think it’s buried down here.”

San fell to his knees. Tears were flowing like a river.

“I’m not ready to die. But I don’t think that’s up to me.”

San couldn’t bear it. He felt like he was getting stabbed in the heart.

“Would you tell the team something for me?”

San was still crying but he nodded hesitantly.

“Tell them that…” 

Hongjoong fell down. He was clutching his chest, showing that he couldn’t breath. He gasped for air. 

“What’s- happ- happening?” He asked, gasping for oxygen.

San walked over to him and grabbed him.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happening.”

Suddenly everything started to turn to normal. San opened his eyes to the burning building again. He turned to the others all huddled around something. He got up and ran towards them. He stopped to see Nayoung leaning over Hongjoong. She was healing him.

San looked up to see Huntra watching them intensely. 

“How did-”

“I went back for him. Before the explosion took over I teleported him out of there. He isn’t dying of burns or anything like that. I think he used too much energy. But I think this is working.”

Hongjoong lay there peacefully. Nayoung was still healing him when his eyes opened.

He shot up, gasping for air. Seonghwa tackled him to the ground. He latched onto Hongjoong, squeezing him tight.

“Seo- Seonghwa. I need to breathe.”

Seonghwa sat up quickly and brushed off his shoulder. Everyone let out a sigh of relief collectively.

Junho watched them from a distance and smiled. Without saying goodbye, he left. Huntra hadn’t even realized he wasn’t there for a moment.

“Hongjoong, we were so-”

“I know. Me too. I was beyond scared.”

“You didn’t fail us. I promise you that.” Seonghwa smiled at him.

Hongjoong smiled back.

“I will be a better leader from now on. We are not gonna go through this again. I will die before I let this happen again.”

“Uh no. You are not dying anymore,” Mingi commanded.

Everyone laughed. The feeling of relief was consuming them. For once, an emotion consuming them felt good. They had just stopped an all powerful evil demon-god thing from emerging from the underworld. That felt good. Nobody was hurt or at least badly injured. Well, everyone except Hongjoong. He was just dead for a minute or two. They felt like they could relax. 

“Let’s get out of here,” Mingi strongly suggested.

“What about this burning building?” Yunho questioned.

“I think we’ll let the authorities handle the rest of this,” Nayoung insisted.

Everyone agreed.

Sirens were wailing in the distance.

\-------------------

Hongjoong sat down in the new apartment. It was empty considering everything they had was blown up. The only thing that was in the place was furniture. Decorations were scarce. Seonghwa walked it holding a box.

“What’s that?’ Hongjoong questioned.

“Plates, bowls, spoons, forks, and all the other utensils. We need something to eat on,” Seonghwa answered.

Hongjoong nodded in agreement.

Seonghwa placed the box on the table. He sighed and slowly scanned the room. Huntra entered the room holding another box.

“Well, you guys settled in yet?”

“No. I don’t know if we’ll ever be,” Hongjoong replied.

“Fair enough. Your base was blown up.”

The three all collectively looked down awkwardly.

“So, what’s next for the team?” Huntra looked at the two for an answer.

“Well, San and Wooyoung went to Japan to the guy your witch friend said could help him control his power. He might be there a while. Jongho will be staying here with me. Mingi went to Australia with Nayoung. Something about a ‘self discovering journey’ or whatever,” Hongjoong explained.

“Why him and Nayoung?” Huntra questioned.

“I have no idea. If you ask me, I think they like each other.”

Huntra had a look of confusion on her face.

“Seonghwa said that you’d be helping him with finding out more about where he comes from.”

Seonghwa nodded.

“Yes, I will. We won’t be leaving Korea but we probably won’t be actively communicating with you guys. We have a lot to look into,” Huntra explained.

“Whatever helps you guys. Anyways, Yunho will be finding more out about the cult. I told him not to go against them on his own and he said he wouldn’t but I don’t think he was telling the truth. He wants to put an end to the cult.”

“Wow. This Angel stuff really set a fire in him.”

Seonghwa and Joong both nodded in agreement.

“Yeosang is going to investigate something about his past. Something about the cyborg side of him.”

Huntra sighed.

“I don’t think you guys realized how powerful all of you are. And what you guys are capable of. We found out a lot about you guys through all of this. There is definitely more going on than we think. You guys didn’t just become a team by chance. This was meant to happen,” Huntra explained.

“I think you’re right. Before this, all of us had no idea what role we played in everything. It seemed like things all started to uncover right as we embarked on this,” Seonghwa added.

They were all put in deep thought. What was the meaning of all of this? 

“So, what about you, Joong? What are your plans?”

Joong thought for a second.

“I’m going to start on getting us a new base. When everyone comes back from their own missions, we hopefully will have a base for everyone to come to.”

Huntra smiled and nodded with acceptance.

“And I think I’m gonna start training,” Joong added.

“Training?” Seonghwa questioned.

“With the fall of Eden, the whole training agency is taking a hit as well. Someone needs to help these new trainees. Someone not corrupt needs to guide them. I think I want to help them out.”

“Wow. I don’t think I could’ve found a better job for you,” Huntra replied.

“This isn’t the end for Ateez. We aren’t over, we’re just taking a break from the team and finding things from our history and origins that could possibly be a problem in the future for us. Think of this as the end of the beginning.”

Seonghwa and Huntra nodded.

“Alright well, me and Seonghwa need to get started. Do you need anything else before we go?”

Joong shook his head.

“Let us know.”

Seonghwa and Huntra left the room.

Joong sat down and finally felt relaxed. He took deep breaths and enjoyed the silence. He heard the door open from behind him.

“Hey Jongho, you just missed Seonghwa and Huntra.”

Joong turned around to see a stranger. A woman in a long coat and wearing sunglasses. She took off her shades and looked at Hongjoong directly.

“Hm, not Jongho. But I am looking for him. You want to tell me where he is?”

\-----------------

Huntra sat in her apartment. It’s been six months since the battle. Seonghwa is discovering so much about where he’s from and what his abilities are.

Huntra’s phone rang. It was Junho.

“Junho?”

“Hey. It’s been a while.”

“Yea it has. You didn’t even say goodbye when you left after the battle.”

“Yea, I just needed to leave.”

“Okay, weird. I wanted to at least say thank you.”

“Well you can thank me later when we catch up. Dinner sometime?”

Huntra hesitated.

“Sure I’d love that.”

Hunta blushed.

“Now, I called to talk to you about something.”

“What is it?”

“So when I got the dagger, I also retrieved a scroll. I don’t speak the language on it so I found someone who did.”   
  


“Cool, what does it say?”

“Well, the friend who read it for me told me that the way the dagger works is that it is a spirit cell.”

“What’s that?”

“Well, basically it doesn’t kill them entirely. To kill them, you’d have to do some ritual after stabbing the god or goddess.”

“I’m not following.”

“The dagger just holds the spirit or spirits of whoever you stab with it.”

“So, Sintresses spirit is inside the dagger?”

“Precisely.”

“Wow. That’s interesting.”

“Do you still have it?”

“Of course I do.”

Huntra walked into her bedroom and looked at the desk. It was filled with papers and books and other supplies. 

There was no dagger.

“Um.”

She pushed things around and looked for it.

“What’s wrong.”

“It was on my desk. I put it on my desk and it’s not here.”

She continued looking.

“Could you have put it somewhere else?”

“No, I don’t easily forget. Plus it was like 5 minutes ago. I moved it five minutes ago.”

She began to panic.

“You need to find that knife.”

“I know! I know.”

She began throwing things off of her desk. Nothing.

She looked at her window and saw the wind blowing the curtains. It was open.

“Oh my-”

“What?”

“I think someone stole it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter. Thank you to everyone whose read it and said good things about it. It's nice to hear such kind things when your just starting out on a public platform. Also, thanks to @Chirpb for helping me through it. She was my guide through all of this and I'm thankful. Again, tell me what you thought. I'm gonna be making more stories obviously and with different groups and I'm planning on connecting them through lore and such. They will still be their own stories but there will be stuff like that. Thank you again.

**Author's Note:**

> I appreciate feedback!
> 
> Thank you for reading!!!


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